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Issue: Vol. 5802 No. 3: 5 May 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-05-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5802.3.5
Page range: 520-532
Abstract views: 183
PDF downloaded: 15

Revalidation of the genus Pleuroptya Meyrick, removed from synonymy with Patania Moore (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Spilomelinae)

Entomological Laboratory; Faculty of Agriculture; Kyushu University; 744 Motooka; Nishi-ku; Fukuoka; 819-0395; Japan; The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences; Tottori University; 4-101 Koyama-Minami; Tottori; Tottori; 680-8553; Japan; Current address: Institute for Plant Protection; National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO); 2-1-18 Kannondai; Tsukuba; Ibaraki 305-8666; Japan
Insect DX Laboratory; Faculty of Agriculture; Kyushu University; 744 Motooka; Nishi-ku; Fukuoka; 819-0395; Japan
Mientrung Institute for Scientific Research; Vietnam National Museum of Nature; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Hue; Vietnam; Graduate School of Science and Technology; Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; Hanoi; Vietnam
Lepidoptera Agroterini genitalia hair-pencil Nosophora polyphyletic genus Tetridia caletoralis

Abstract

The genus Patania remains a species-rich and polyphyletic genus among Spilomelinae. Pleuroptya is currently synonymized with Patania based on superficial similarity of genitalia morphology, but this treatment has not been sufficiently verified. In this study, we conduct molecular phylogenetic analyses with a five-gene dataset that includes the type species of each genus, and we compare their morphology in detail. Molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that most Pleuroptya species form a well-supported monophyletic clade, whereas the type species of Patania is sister to Nosophora. Morphologically, Patania can be discriminated from Pleuroptya by the male secondary sexual structures, including presence or absence of a hind tibial scale-tuft, a pleural scale tuft, and a well-developed hair-pencil sclerite with specialized scales, as well as by differences in the male genitalia. These results strongly support the separation of the two genera. We thus reinstate Pleuroptya stat. rev. from synonymy with Patania, and redefine the genus based on the recognized monophyletic clade. Based on morphological diagnoses provided here, we confidently place 20 species in Pleuroptya, whereas Patania in the strict sense is currently restricted to only the type species.

 

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How to Cite

Matsui, Y., Yagi, S. & Pham, T.-H. (2026) Revalidation of the genus Pleuroptya Meyrick, removed from synonymy with Patania Moore (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Spilomelinae). Zootaxa, 5802 (3), 520–532. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5802.3.5