Nemophora mediseorsa, Sun & Li, 2023

Sun, Hao & Li, Houhun, 2023, Taxonomy of the mediseorsa species group of the genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 (Lepidoptera: Adelidae), Zootaxa 5258 (4), pp. 485-494 : 486

The mediseorsa species group

Diagnosis. Adult wingspan runs from 11.0‒18.0 mm in male and 10.0‒12.0 mm in female. The relatively narrow forewing has three fasciae: the medial fascia yellow and widest, the inner and outer fasciae silvery gray, and the outer fascia narrowed or separated medially; the black streaks radiate from the base of the wing or from the basal black speckle to the inner fascia, as well as from the outer fascia toward the termen, and R 3 is stalked with R 4. In the male genitalia, the maximum width of the uncus is 1.6‒2.8 times the length and the phallus bears spines. In the female genitalia, the membranous vestibulum has 1‒2 sclerites, and the ductus bursae is shorter than the vestibulum.

Members of the mediseorsa species group proposed in this paper are similar to those of the degeerella and the aurora species groups in the forewing pattern, but distinctly different in the forewing usually having a black basal speckle and the hindwing uniformly grayish brown. The mediseorsa group can be further distinguished from the degeerella group by the antenna not swollen basally in female, and the outer fascia of the forewing separated or narrowed medially; in the degeerella group, the antenna is swollen basally in female, and the outer fascia of the forewing is almost equally wide. The mediseorsa group can be further separated from the aurora group by the valva without small swelling bearing a tuft of long setae on oval depigmented spot at base, which is present in the aurora group ( Kozlov 1997: 13, figs 3, 4, 8, 9).

Members of the mediseorsa species group share the following superficial apomorphic traits: the forewing with the medial fascia yellow and the widest, the inner and outer fasciae sivery gray, the longitudinal black streaks radiating from the outer fascia, and the veins R 3 and R 4 stalked.

Currently, the four known species of the mediseorsa group are only distributed in China.