Ypsolopha Latreille

Sohn, Jae-Cheon, Ponomarenko, Margarita G., Wu, Chun-Sheng, Han, Hui-Lin & Wang, Xin-Li, 2010, Descriptions of three new species of Ypsolopha Latreille (Lepidoptera: Ypsolophidae) from East Asia, redescription of Y. contractella (Caradja) and a checklist of East Asian Ypsolopha, Zootaxa 2511, pp. 22-38 : 23-24

Genus Ypsolopha Latreille , [1796]: 145

Type species: Phalaena sylvella Linnaeus, 1767 , subsequent designation by Desmarest, 1857. = Ypsolophus Fabricius, 1798: 421 , 505. Unjustified emendation of Ypsolopha .

= Hypsolophus Illiger, 1801: 155 . Unjustified emendation of Ypsolophus .

= Cerostoma Latreille , [1802]: 416. Type species: Ypsolophus dorsatus Fabricius, 1798 .

= Ypsilophus Oken, 1815: 651 . Unjustified emendation of Ypsolophus .

= Hypsolopha Billberg, 1820: 93 . Unjustified emendation of Ypsolopha .

= Theristis Hübner, [1825]: 406. Type species: Tinea acinacidella Hübner, 1796 .

= Harpipterix Hübner, [1825]: 407. Type species: Tinea hamella Hübner, 1805 .

= Abebaea Hübner, [1825]: 408. Type species: Phalaena sylvella Linnaeus, 1767 .

= Theristes; Hübner, [1826]: 68. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Theristis.

= Chaetochilus Stephens, 1834: 337 . Type species: Phalaena sequella Clerck, 1759

= Harpipteryx ; Stephens, 1834: 334, 402, 421. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Harpipterix.

= Harpepteryx Sodoffsky, 1837: 94. Unjustified emendation of Harpipterix.

= Pteroxia Guenée, 1845: 335. Type species: Tinea cultrella Hübner, 1796 .

= Hypolepia Guenée, 1845: 337. Type species: Phalaena vittella Linnaeus, 1758 .

= Harpopteryx; Agassiz, 1847: 173. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Harpipterix.

= Hypsilophus Agassiz, 1847: 393 . Unjustified emendation of Ypsolophus and junior homonym of Hypsilophus Wagler, 1830 [Reptilia].

= Credemnon Wallengren, 1880: 54, 59. Type species: Phalaena sylvella Linnaeus, 1767 .

= Periclymenobius Wallengren, 1880: 61. Type species: Phalaena xylostella Linnaeus , sensu Wallengren, 1880

= Trachoma Wallengren, 1880: 62 . Type species: Phalaena asperella Linnaeus, 1761 .

= Pluteloptera Chambers, 1880: 181 . Type species: Pluteloptera ochrella Chambers, 1880 .

= Plutelloptera ; Chambers, 1880: 198. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Pluteloptera .

= Mapa Strand, 1911: 170 . Type species: Mapa cordillerella Strand, 1911 .

= Pycnopogon Chrétien, 1922: 356 . Type species: Pycnopogon scabrellus Chrétien, 1922 . Junior homonym of Pycnopogon Loew, 1847 [Insecta: Diptera ].

= Credemna ; Forbes, 1923: 341, 709. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Credemnon.

= Melitonympha Meyrick, 1927: 360 . Type species: Melitonympha heteraula Meyrick, 1927 .

= Chalconympha Meyrick, 1931: 401 . Type species: Chalconympha eurypepla Meyrick, 1931 .

= Credemon ; Moriuti, 1977: 42, 73, 318. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Credemnon.

Members of Ypsolopha are variable in shape and color and no exclusive superficial features have been established for the group. In contrast, the genitalia of both sexes are remarkably homogeneous ( Moriuti 1977) and thus, genital features sometimes are less useful to distinguish species than external appearance. Ypsolopha can be distinguished from two other East Asian ypsolophid genera, Bhadorcosma Moriuti, 1977 and Rhabdocosma Meyrick, 1935 by the 2nd segment of labial palpus with scale tufts and the gnathos in male genitalia with a ventral plate ( Moriuti 1977).

Classification. There has been no suggestion of subgeneric classification for Ypsolopha , although some distinct lineages were assigned to separate, but subsequently synonymized, genera. Moriuti (1964) first tried to divide the Palearctic species into four species groups based on the features of labial palpus, genitalia and wing: vittella -, parenthesella -, mucronella -, and acuminata -group. Later, he merged the parenthesella -group with the vitella -group because they were not separated unequivocally ( Moriuti 1977). Moriuti’s three species groups have not been tested by a phylogenetic analysis and it is uncertain if they are applicable to nonpalaearctic Ypsolopha .

Biology. The adults are nocturnal or rarely diurnal. Their resting postures are various but often have the head down and the lower body up. Ypsolopha acuminata mimics a small broken branch at rest (see the photos at www.jpmoth.org). The larvae usually live in open webs on the leaves of various, primarily woody, plants ( Dugdale et al. 1998) and mostly feed on a limited range of host plants. They are active primarily at night and have two defensive behaviors that involve wiggling and jumping ( Eisner et al. 2005).

Nomenclatural remarks. The gender of the genus Ypsolopha is feminine. Moriuti (1977: 74) incorrectly stated that it is maculine and thus named all his new species with the ending - us. This has been confounded repeatedly by some other authors. We found that four of the East Asian Ypsolopha still retain the maculine ending: they must be changed to aurata Moriuti , distinctata Moriuti , flava (Issiki) , nigrimaculata Byun et Park , and nigrofasciata Yang. Moriuti (1977: 72) designated Phalaena (Tinea) vittella Linnaeus, 1758 as the type species but this designation is invalid because one was precedently established by Desmarest (1857: 255).