Japanese Elachista studied by Parenti (1983) (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae): The subgenus Aphelosetia and the Gleichenella-, tetragonella-, and bifasciella-groups

Abstract

The Japanese Elachista Treitschke, 1833 species relevant to Parenti (1983) belonging to the subgenus Aphelosetia Stephens, 1834 and the gleichenella-, tetragonella-, and bifasciella-groups of the subgenus Elachista are revised. A total of nine species are recognized: E. (Aphelosetia) fasciola Parenti, 1983, E. (Aphelosetia) microdigitata Parenti, 1983, in the E. gleichenella-group: E. (E.) nitensella Sinev & Sruoga, 1995, E. (E.) similissp. n., E. (E.) tengstromiKaila et al., 2001, in the E. tetragonella-group: E. (E.) fulgens Parenti, 1983, and in the E. bifasciella-group: E. (E.) hiranoisp. n., E. (E.) jupiter sp. n., and E. (E.) phalaridis Parenti, 1983. Elachista similis and E. hiranoi have been previously misidentified in Japan as E. gleichenella (Fabricius, 1781) and E. apicipunctella Stainton, 1858 respectively. Elachista jupiter is another close relative of E. apicipunctella The females of E. microdigitata and E. nitensella are described for the first time. The immature biology is illustrated for E. similis and E. fulgens.