A STUDY OF CHINESE ETHMIA HUBNER( LEPIDOPTERA : ETHMIIDAE ) IN CLASSIFICATION,DISTRIBUTION AND NUMERICAL TAXONOMY

Abstract

This paper records 23 species of Chinese Ethmia Hb. collected by the author in the past ten years. Among them, 6 species are here described as new and 3 species are recorded for the first time in China. With these 9 species, the total number of Chinese species amounts to 31. All specimens are kept in the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica.Ethmia guanzhouensis Liu, sp. nov.Nearest to Ethmia fumidella de Latten in appearance and genitalia, but differs from the latter in having 4 black dots on thorax, cucullus round and antrum undeveloped.Holotype ( (?) ):Guangdong (Guangzhou), 18. Ⅳ. 1978. Bai Jiuwei).Allotype ( (?) ), Paratypes (4 (?) (?) , 3 (?) (?) ) as above.Ethmia hainanensis Liu, sp. nov.Closely allied to Ethmia acontias Sattler in appearance, but differs from the latter in having breaks in the first and second black stripes on the forewing.Holotype ( (?) ): Guangdong ( Hainan Dao, Lingao Xian ) 22. Ⅵ. 1957. Wang Linyao.Ethmia hunanensis Liu, sp. nov.Resembles Ethmia maculata Sattler in appearance but differs from the latter in having 15 irregular black dots on the forewing (E. maculata with 20 dots), male genitalia with smaller uncus and caudal part of gnathos well developed, female genitalia with large signum.Holotype ( (?) ): Hunan (Heng Shan, 19. Ⅷ. 1979. Zhang Baolin)Allotype ((?)), Paratypes (4 (?) (?), 1 (?)) as above.Ethmia menyuanensis Liu, sp. nov.With special appearance and genital structure, so easy to be separated from any Ethmia species.Holotype ( (?) ): Qinghai (Haibei Zang Autonomous District, Menyuan Hui Autonomous County, 3200M. 23. Ⅴ. 1976. Wu Ya). Ethmia pingxiangensis Liu, sp. nov.Closely related to both Ethmia hainanensis Liu, sp. nov. and Ethmia acontias Meyrick in appearance with three black stripes, but differs from both in. the continuation and breaks of the stripes on the forewing. Besides, E. acontias also differs from the former in having 4 symmetric sclerotic plates around ostium bursae of female genitalia.Holotype ( (?) ): Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Pingxiang, 11. Ⅵ. 1976, Zhang Baolin).Ethmia yunnanensis Liu, sp. nov.Closely related to other 5 species in size, wing color and black dots, but they canbe separated by the following key:1. Abdominal black dots on tergites 3-7 or 5-7 2.Abdominal black dots on tergites 1-7 3.2. Abdominal black dots on tergites 3-7 E. argota MeyrickAbdominal black dots on tergites 5-7………E. dentata Diakonoff Sattler3. Caudal part of gnathos specialized into armshape with apical hooks 4.Caudal part of gnathos specialized into headshape with several rows of teeth 5.4. Labis, a long hairy process with almost parallel sides E. nigroapicella (Saalmuller)Labis, a long hairy process with expanded ending………E. hilarella (Walker)5. Sacculus penellipse E, yunnanensis Liu, sp. nov.Sacculus triangular E. praeclara MeyrickHolotype ( (?) ): Yunnan Sheng (Yongjinghong, Xishuangbanna, 22, Ⅵ. 1958.Meng Xuwu).Allotype ((?)): Yunnan Sheng (Menglun, Yiwubanna, 28. Ⅴ. 1964. Zhang Baolin).Paratypes (3 (?) (?) ): Yunnan Sheng (Mengla, Xishuangbanna, 18. Ⅳ. 1964. Zhang Baolin).According to the study of Chinese Ethmia in classification and distribution, it is indicated that: 1) E. septempunctata, E. autoschista, ect. are endemic in some rather small territories, while others such as E. lineatonotella, E. cirrhoc-nemia, etc. are widely distributed and cover at least two provinces; 2) in the east part of our country, some species such as E. japonica, E. cirrhocnimia, etc. are only distributed along the north side of Yangtze River, with the general characteristics: body dark, abdomen golden in color, wings with no more than ten black dots, while the others, such as E. assamensis, E. epitrocha, etc. are distributed along the south side of Yangtze River, with body and abdomen grey and wings with more than 15 black dots; and 3) In the west of our country, especially Qinghai, Sichuan, and Xizang provines, the ethmiids include species of both the north and south sides of Yangtze River.In search of the phylogenetic classification of the interrelationship among the 23 sp