Scardia amurensis Zagulajev, 1965

Landry, Jean-François, Nazari, Vazrick, Dewaard, Jeremy R., Mutanen, Marko, Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, Huemer, Peter & Hebert, Paul D. N., 2013, Shared but overlooked: 30 species of Holarctic Microlepidoptera revealed by DNA barcodes and morphology, Zootaxa 3749 (1), pp. 1-93 : 7

1. Scardia amurensis Zagulajev, 1965 ( Tineidae : Scardiinae )

Scardia amurensis Zagulajev, 1965: 411 . Type locality: Russia: Primorskii Territory , Spassk-Dalny.

BOLD:AAG4818

Palearctic distribution. Amur and Primorskii Regions in far-eastern Russia, Japan, possibly adjacent parts of China ( Robinson 1986; Baryshnikova 2008).

New North American records. USA: Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, West Virginia ( CNC, USNM). Many specimens in the USNM and in the James Adams Collection in Athens , Georgia were examined but not barcoded.

Diagnosis. The forewing cream marking are extended along the entire length of the dorsal margin and over the terminal area; the terminal margin has a few rusty-brown spots. In the native North American species, Scardia anatomella (Grote) , the forewing cream markings form three irregular, disjointed spots along the hind margin (somewhat confluent in some specimens), and the terminal cream area is variegated with dark brown; there are also small cream spots along the anterior margin, which are lacking in amurensis . Though highly variable in size, amurensis specimens are very large with a wingspan of up to 40 mm. The differences in both male and female genitalia between amurensis and anatomella are striking: in amurensis male, the uncus lobes are long and prominent, extended to two-thirds of the valvae, the valvae are elongate with the distal portion rounded and spatulate, the claw-like juxta lobes are arcuate, the abdominal T8 is roundly conical, and the abdominal coremata are smaller than the 8 th segment; in anatomella male, the uncus lobes are very short, about one-quarter the length of valvae, with long setae, the valvae are proportionally short and caudally emarginate, the claw-like juxta lobes are straight with a hooked apex, T8 is tongue-like, and the abdominal coremata are much larger than the 8 th segment. In amurensis female, the distal margin of both S8 and T8 is bilobate; in anatomella female, the distal margin of both S8 and T8 is only slightly emarginate.

Larval host. Fomes fungi ( Robinson 1986) and possibly other bracket fungi. One specimen from Maryland reared from Globifomes graveolens growing on fallen Fagus grandifolia (USNM) .

Note. This species was initially discovered mixed among specimens of the Nearctic Scardia anatomella (Grote, 1881) in the USNM, while selecting specimens of the latter for barcoding. Careful examination of additional anatomella revealed several older records of S. amurensis from the southeastern U.S., with the earliest from eastern Texas in 1967 (USNM). Thus the introduction of this species into North America took place several decades ago, but the species has remained unrecognized. The species may be common in other U.S. collections, though misidentified, as evidenced by series collected in the 2000s in Georgia (ADAM) and in Maryland (USNM). No specimens from the Palearctic region were barcoded as few specimens are available, none recent. However, our identification was verified by genitalia examination and comparison with those of the type material, illustrations of which were kindly supplied by Reinhard Gaedike. The species appears to be widespread in the southeastern U.S.