Nemophora optima ( Butler, 1878 )

Liao, Cheng-Qing, Hirowatari, Toshiya, Yagi, Sadahisa, Wang, Min, Wang, Xing & Huang, Guo-Hua, 2023, The fauna of the family Adelidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Adeloidea) from China, Zootaxa 5348 (1), pp. 1-152 : 49

(50) Nemophora optima ( Butler, 1878)

(Plates VI-2, XVI-6)

Adela optima Butler, 1878: 62 , pl. 40, fig. 6 (TL: Japan, Yokohama; BMNH).

Nemotois optima: Meyrick 1912a: 9 ; Meyrick 1912b: 7; Matsumura 1932: 126.

Nemophora optima: Kuroko 1961a: 49 , pl. 5; Moriuti 1982: 1: 55, 2: pl. 1, fig. 34; Hirowatari 2005a: 327, fig. 1M (Ryukyus, Japan); Hirowatari 2013: 107, fig. 3-08-11,12 ( Japan).

Diagnosis. This species is easily distinguished from other Nemophora species by the 5–6 black-margined silver-gray transverse stripes forming three lines at the basal 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 of the forewing. In addition, this species has unique morphological characters as follows: the apex of the uncus is curved ventrally; the valva has a distinct broad apex; the anterior part of the suspensorium is at the same level as the posterior margin of the vinculum in ventral view; and the vesica of aedeagus has a pair of slender cornuti dorsolaterally.

Specimen examined. [ Sichuan] 1♂, Hongshi Park, Gonggashan National Nature Reserve , Luding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , 2016.VI.26, J.Y. Qiu & H. Xu leg. ( HUNAU) .

Distribution. China (new record: Sichuan); Japan.

Remarks. This species has been reported from many areas in Japan, but it is still very rare because few specimens have been collected. In this paper, this species was reported as a newly recorded species in China. Kuroko (1961) described the forewing pattern and male and female genitalia, and Hirowatari (2005a) also reported this species in the Ryukyus, Japan. For biological information, it can be determined that the adults fly at dusk and the female oviposit in the flower buds of Ligustrum japonicum Thunb. (Olaeaceae) ( Sasaki et al. 2017).

One DNA barcode of N. optima from Japan is generated and this sequence is closest to a sequence of an unidentified Nemophora species (LCQ065, pairwise distances: 0.054).