Olethreutes Hübner [1822]

Dubatolov, Vladimir V., Bogunova, Anna A. & Nedoshivina, Svetlana V., 2014, Review of the Olethreutes bowmanana-magadana species group, with the description of a new species from the Amur River, Russia (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae), Zootaxa 3779 (3), pp. 375-382 : 376

Olethreutes Hübner [1822]

Systematisch-alphabetisches Verzeichniss aller bisher bey den Fürbildungen zur Sammlung europäischer Schmetterlinge: 72. Type species: Phalaena Tortrix arcuana Linnaeus, 1761 = [ Phalaena ] arcuella Clerck, 1759 by subsequent designation.

Olethreutes is a large Holarctic genus with 133 described species currently assigned to it ( Gilligan et al. 2012). Species included in the genus exhibit a wide range of genital morphology wing patterns, and male secondary structures, making the genus extremely heterogeneous and probably polyphyletic. However, many species within Olethreutes show remarkable similarities to presumably closely related species, and many of these could be combined into natural groups.

The Olethreutes bowmanana-magadana species group, proposed here, shows clear differences from other Olethreutes and is considered a natural group supported by following characters: brown to dark gray wing colour with lighter grayish striae and blackish spots; uncus narrow, bifid distally; sacculus with a distal internal lobe covered by strong spines and a spine cluster proximally on the ventral side; cucullus with a slender neck and apical widening; and aedeagus with foldable apical spine.

The assignment of the species under consideration to the genus Olethreutes is generally accepted ( Brown et al. 2005), but their relationships to other Olethreutes species remain uncertain.