Tribal assignment of the genus Eumera Staudinger, 1892, using multi-gene analysis, with description of a new species from Iran (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae)

The geometrid moth genus Eumera Staudinger, 1892 consists of five yellow-orange-pinkish species distributed in the western Palearctic, with uncertain tribal classification within the geometrid subfamily Ennominae. In this study, we explored the phylogenetic position of the genus Eumera. Therefore, a concatenated dataset was analyzed, which includes one mitochondrial and up to ten protein-coding genetic markers per taxa. Moreover, we compared some external and internal morphological traits to other closely related genera. Our phylogenetic inference and comparative morphology suggested that Eumera should be included in the tribe Prosopolophini. In addition, a new species, Eumera rajaeii sp. nov. Wanke & Shirvani is described from southern Iran, and diagnosed by molecular data and morphological features. The distribution of the Iranian species is shown on a map. We illustrate external characters and male genitalia of three closely related Eumera species.Peer reviewe

Addenda e corrigenda ai Geometridae dell’Italia meridionale (Contributi alla conoscenza della Lepidotterofauna dell’Italia meridionale. XX)

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA TO GEOMETRIDAE OF SOUTHERN ITALY (Contributions to knowledge of the Lepidoptera in Southern Italy. XX) Collection data on Geometridae of southern Italy are reported. The most interesting ones regard two species newly recorded for the continental Italy: Hemistola siciliana Prout, 1935 and Idaea rainerii Hausmann, 1994; one species newly recorded for central and southern Italy: Eupithecia ochridata Pinker, 1968; eight species newly recorded for southern Italy: Pachycnemia tibiaria (Rambur, 1829), Idaea laevigata (Scopoli, 1763), Eupithecia cuculliaria (Rebel, 1901), Eupithecia laquaearia Herrich-Schäffer, 1848, Eupithecia absinthiata (Clerck, 1759), Eupithecia subumbrata (Denis Schiffermüller, 1775), Eupithecia pusillata (Denis Schiffermüller, 1775) and Eupithecia scopariata (Rambur, 1833). Moreover, the Authors have been made some corrections and modifications, also from a nomenclatural point of view, of the monography on the Geometridae collected in Southern Italy (Parenzan, 1994). Key words: Lepidoptera Geometridae, faunistic reports, Southern Italy.Sono forniti nuovi dati sui Geometridi dell’Italia meridionale acquisiti negli ultimi anni; sono riportate anche nuove località che ampliano la diffusione al versante tirrenico calabrese per alcu- ne specie già note per diverse località del versante ionico. I reperti più interessanti sono: Hemistola siciliana Prout, 1935 e Idaea rainerii Hausmann, 1994, nuove per l’Itala continentale; Eupithecia ochridata Pinker, 1968, nuova per l’Italia centrale e meridionale; Pachycnemia tibiaria (Rambur, 1829), Idaea laevigata (Scopoli, 1763), Eupithecia cuculliaria (Rebel, 1901), Eupithecia laquaearia Herrich-Schäffer, 1848, Eupithecia absinthiata (Clerck, 1759), Eupithecia subumbrata (Denis Schiffermüller, 1775), Eupithecia pusillata (Denis Schiffermüller, 1775) e Eupithecia scopariata (Rambur, 1833) nuove per l’Italia meridionale. Sono inoltre apportate alcune correzioni e modifiche, anche nomenclatoriali, alla monografia sui Geometridi dell’Italia meridionale (Parenzan, 1994), rese necessarie in seguito a verifica di dati ed a revisioni tassonomiche. Parole chiave: Lepidoptera Geometridae, segnalazioni faunistiche, Italia meridionale.

A novel approach for reliable qualitative and quantitative prey spectra identification of carnivorous plants combining DNA metabarcoding and macro photography

Prey spectra (the number and composition of captured arthropods) represent a crucial aspect of carnivorous plant ecology, yet remain poorly studied. Traditional morphology-based approaches for prey identification are time-intensive, require specialists with considerable knowledge of arthropod taxonomy, and are hampered by high numbers of unidentifiable (i.e., heavily digested) prey items. We examined prey spectra of three species of closely-related annual Drosera (Droseraceae, sundews) from tropical northern Australia using a novel DNA metabarcoding approach with in-situ macro photography as a plausibility control and to facilitate prey quantity estimations. This new method facilitated accurate analyses of carnivorous plant prey spectra (even of heavily digested prey lacking characteristic morphological features) at a taxonomic resolution and level of completeness far exceeding morphology-based methods and approaching the 100% mark at arthropod order level. Although the three studied species exhibited significant differences in detected prey spectra, little prey specialisation was observed and habitat or plant population density variations were likely the main drivers of prey spectra dissimilarity

A streamlined collecting and preparation protocol for DNA barcoding of Lepidoptera as part of large-scale rapid biodiversity assessment projects, exemplified by the Indonesian Biodiversity Discovery and Information System (IndoBioSys)

Here we present a general collecting and preparation protocol for DNA barcoding of Lepidoptera as part of large-scale rapid biodiversity assessment projects, and a comparison with alternative preserving and vouchering methods. About 98% of the sequenced specimens processed using the present collecting and preparation protocol yielded sequences with more than 500 base pairs. The study is based on the first outcomes of the Indonesian Biodiversity Discovery and Information System (IndoBioSys). IndoBioSys is a German-Indonesian research project that is conducted by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, in close cooperation with the Research Center for Biology – Indonesian Institute of Sciences (RCB-LIPI, Bogor)

Information dropout patterns in restriction site associated DNA phylogenomics and a comparison with multilocus Sanger data in a species-rich moth genus

A rapid shift from traditional Sanger sequencing-based molecular methods to the phylogenomic approach with large numbers of loci is underway. Among phylogenomic methods, restriction site associated DNA (RAD) sequencing approaches have gained much attention as they enable rapid generation of up to thousands of loci randomly scattered across the genome and are suitable for nonmodel species. RAD data sets however suffer from large amounts of missing data and rapid locus dropout along with decreasing relatedness among taxa. The relationship between locus dropout and the amount of phylogenetic information retained in the data has remained largely uninvestigated. Similarly, phylogenetic hypotheses based on RAD have rarely been compared with phylogenetic hypotheses based on multilocus Sanger sequencing, even less so using exactly the same species and specimens. We compared the Sanger-based phylogenetic hypothesis (8 loci; 6172 bp) of 32 species of the diverse moth genus Eupithecia (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) to that based on double-digest RAD sequencing (3256 loci; 726,658 bp). We observed that topologies were largely congruent, with some notable exceptions that we discuss. The locus dropout effect was strong. We demonstrate that number of loci is not a precise measure of phylogenetic information since the number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may remain low at very shallow phylogenetic levels despite large numbers of loci. As we hypothesize, the number of SNPs and parsimony informative SNPs (PIS) is low at shallow phylogenetic levels, peaks at intermediate levels and, thereafter, declines again at the deepest levels as a result of decay of available loci. Similarly, we demonstrate with empirical data that the locus dropout affects the type of loci retained, the loci found in many species tending to show lower interspecific distances than those shared among fewer species. We also examine the effects of the numbers of loci, SNPs, and PIS on nodal bootstrap support, but could not demonstrate with our data our expectation of a positive correlation between them. We conclude that RAD methods provide a powerful tool for phylogenomics at an intermediate phylogenetic level as indicated by its broad congruence with an eight-gene Sanger data set in a genus of moths. When assessing the quality of the data for phylogenetic inference, the focus should be on the distribution and number of SNPs and PIS rather than on loci.Peer reviewe

Insect taxonomy can be difficult : a noctuid moth (Agaristinae: Aletopus imperialis) and a geometrid moth (Sterrhinae: Cartaletis dargei) combined into a cryptic species complex in eastern Africa (Lepidoptera)

The systematic position of a large and strikingly coloured reddish-black moth, Cartaletis dargei Herbulot, 2003 (Geometridae: Sterrhinae) from Tanzania, has remained questionable since its description. Here we present molecular and morphological evidence showing that Cartaletis dargei only superficially resembles true Cartaletis Warren, 1894 (the relative name currently considered a junior synonym of Aletis Hubner, 1820), which are unpalatable diurnal moths superficially resembling butterflies, and that it is misplaced in the family Geometridae. We transfer it to Noctuidae: Agaristinae, and combine it with the genus Aletopus Jordan, 1926, from Tanzania, as Aletopus dargei (Herbulot, 2003) (new combination). We revise the genus Aletopus to contain three species, but find that it is a cryptic species complex that needs to be revised with more extensive taxon sampling. Our results demonstrate the difficulties in interpreting and classifying biological diversity. We discuss the problems in species delimitation and the potential drivers of evolution in eastern Africa that led to phenotypic similarity in unrelated lepidopteran lineages.Peer reviewe

A new fossil inchworm moth discovered in Miocene Dominican amber (Lepidoptera : Geometridae)

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MWe report a fossil geometrid moth, a male, virtually complete, preserved in a clear piece of Miocene Dominican amber dating from 19 to 16 Mya. Fore- and hindwings appear partially overlapped, and all body characters are visible externally in dorsal and ventral views, including the outer surface of the valvae of the genitalia. The scale pattern on the wing membrane is preserved, whereas the wing color pattern is not. It belongs to the genus Dolichoneura (Geometridae: Desmobathrinae) and is named Dolichoneura jorelisae Sarto i Monteys, Hausmann, Baixeras and Peñalver sp. n., based on wing features. Because of the poor fossil record of lepidopterans, both in amber and compression rocks, the description of the available well-preserved specimens is of considerable interest for phylogenetic studies. Furthermore, it could also serve for calibrating molecular clocks and for paleobiogeographic inferences

An online taxonomic facility of Geometridae (Lepidoptera), with an overview of global species richness and systematics

We present a new, online, open access portal to the geometrid moths of the world (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). The portal provides access to the global database including data on classification, valid genera and species, synonyms and type localities, and to an online list of valid names. The value of this online facility, inter alia, is demonstrated by using the underlying data to update our understanding of the global and regional species richness of the family. We also review, clarify and list the family-group names (family, subfamily, tribe) of the Geometridae to provide users with a better understanding of the higher category framework when they access the database. Currently, the Geometridae database includes 34,897 available species-group names. Of these, 7,891 are considered synonyms (23% of available names), giving a total of 27,006 valid species-group names, which in turn comprise 23,872 species names and 3,134 subspecies names. The world fauna is classified into 2,019 genera, 92 tribes and 9 subfamilies. Our paper also includes an annotated list of all 202 subfamily, tribe and subtribe names in systematic order. One hundred family-group names (49.5%) are considered synonyms. Although most geometrid species were described in the 19th and 20th centuries, the average number of new species descriptions from 2000–2022 has been fairly constant at around 80 per year, implying there is still much more hidden geometrid diversity yet to be discovered.Peer reviewe

Using Malaise traps for collecting Lepidoptera (Insecta), with notes on the preparation of Macrolepidoptera from ethanol

The present paper deals with the potential of employing Malaise traps for collecting butterflies and moths for morphological analysis and presents a protocol for preparing Macrolepidoptera from Malaise trap samples that were preserved in ethanol. About 80 specimens of Lepidoptera, including Nymphalidae, Geometridae, Hesperiidae, Erebidae, Noctuidae, Pyralidae and Tortricidae, were mounted, following the protocol. All specimens with robust wings and contrasting wing patterns were well suited for the study of external morphology, regardless of the family. The specimens used in this study were collected in highland forest areas of central Vietnam with a little known entomofauna, as part of the German-Vietnamese biodiversity project 'VIETBIO'. The study offers new methodological approaches in an attempt to make the most of the material that was obtained using Malaise traps

Comprehensive Molecular Sampling Yields a Robust Phylogeny for Geometrid Moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)

Peer reviewe