Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847)

Ypsolophus exustellus Zeller, 1847 —Isis von Oken 1847 (11): 820.

Sophronia catharurga Meyrick, 1923, syn. nov. — Exot. Microlep. 3 (1–2): 34.

Sophronia parahumerella Amsel, 1935, syn. nov. —Mitt. zool. Mus. Berl. 20 (2): 297.

Sophronia buvati Nel, 1998 —Alexanor 20(4): 228, figs 17–23.

Records. Amsel 1933: 126; Amsel 135a: 297, pl. 11, fig. 95; Amsel 1935c: 265; Bodenheimer 1937: 102 ( parahumerella; catharurga); Bytinski-Salz & Sternlicht 1967: 130; Halperin & Sauter 1992: 122.

Material examined. Holotype of S. parahumerella ♀, Tel Aviv, Paläs., Düne, 17.ix.1930 (Amsel) (SMNK); 2 ♂, 1 ♀ Kefar Shemuel, 15.iv.1968 (gen. slide 128/ 18♂, 129/ 18♀, O. Bidzilya (TAU); 4 ♂, Jericho, Kalia, v.2004 (Kravchenko) (TAU, ZMUC).

Remarks. Specimens from Israel match both externally and genitally (Figs 1–4) Pseudosophronia exustellus (Nel 1998; Corley 2001). They also agree in all details with the female holotype of Sophronia catharurga collected in Akka, Israel (Clarke 1969: 376, pl. 188, figs 1–1b). The female holotype of Sophronia parahumerella described from the vicinity of Tel Aviv is identical to P. exustellus too (Fig. 2). Hence, we propose the following synonymy: Sophronia catharurga Meyrick, 1923 and Sophronia parahumerella Amsel, 1935 syn. nov. of Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847) .

Host plant. Unknown. The record of Quercus ithaburensis Decne. as a host plant for larvae of P. exustellus in Israel (Bytinski-Salz & Sternlicht 1967: 130; Halperin & Sauter 1992: 122) requires verification.

Distribution. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy (including Sicily) (Karsholt & Riedl 1996: 118), Israel.