Review of the genus Helcystogramma Zeller (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae: Dichomeridinae) from China

Abstract

The genus Helcystogramma Zeller from China is reviewed. Of the 20 species treated in this paper, nine are described as new: H. imagibicuneum sp. nov., H. flavifuscum sp. nov., H. brevinodium sp. nov., H. albilepidotum sp. nov., H. angustum sp. nov., H. flavistictum sp. nov., H. furvimaculare sp. nov., H. imagitrijunctum sp. nov. and H. rectangulum sp. nov.; six are newly recorded for this country: H. flavilineolella Ponomarenko, H. bicuneum (Meyrick), H. epicentra (Meyrick), H. perelegans (Omelko et Omelko), H. fuscomarginatum Ueda and H. lutatella (Herrich-Schäffer); the previously unknown females of H. epicentra (Meyrick) and H. hassenzanensis Park et Hodges are described for the first time; H. bicuneum (Meyrick) and H. epicentra (Meyrick) are redescribed; and the misidentification of H. trijunctum (Meyrick) is clarified. These species are arranged into five species groups based on the forewing patterns and the genital characters: the flavilineolella group, the hibisci group, the perelegans group, the triannulella group and the trijunctum group. Images of the adults and the illustrations of the male and female genitalia are provided. A key to distinguish the Chinese species and three maps to show the localities of these species are included.

Keywords:

• Lepidoptera
• Gelechiidae
• Dichomeridinae
• Helcystogramma
• new species
• systematics
• China

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr R.W. Hodges (Washington DC, USA), Dr K.T. Park (Chunchon, Korea), Dr M.G. Ponomarenko (Vladivostok, Russia), and Dr T. Ueda (Osaka, Japan) for providing us with helpful literature. We are indebted to Dr Chunsheng Wu, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for his kind help in checking the specimens and for the loan of some specimens deposited in this institute; and to Dr R.C. Kendrick (Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Hongkong) for the assistance given in the field collection. We also give our thanks to the following persons for collecting specimens when they were pursuing their degrees at Nankai University under the guidance of the corresponding author: Dr Xinpu Wang (Hebei University, Baoding), Dr Shulian Hao (Natural History Museum of Tianjin, Tianjin), Dr Haili Yu (Northwest University, Xi'an), Dr Yunli Xiao (Huanggang Normal University, Huangang), Dr Yingdang Ren (Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou), Dr Dandan Zhang (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou), Mr Denghui Kuang and Ms Yiping Wang (Nankai University). We are grateful to the reviewers for providing us with very helpful comments on this paper. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30470211 and No. 30499341).