Synanthedon namdoelegans Kim, Kim and Choi, 2025

Kim, Woo Jin, Kim, Sung-Soo, Lee, Seung Hyun, Park, Jeong Sun & Kim, Sei-Woong Choi and Iksoo, 2025, A new species of the genus Synanthedon Hübner, 1819 (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) from Korea, Journal of Species Research 14 (2), pp. 213-223 : 215-222

Synanthedon namdoelegans Kim, Kim and Choi sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:C425E3CC-2FB4-4CFE-8B1F- 5121298651E6

Type material. Holotype. ♂ [ MNU14991 ]. Suncheon , Jeollanamdo Province, 30. IV. 2024, Kim, Woo Jin leg .

Paratypes. Suncheon , Jeollanamdo Province, 2♂ [ CNU 17888 , CNU17889 ], 26. IV. 2023, Kim, Woo Jin leg.; Naju , Jeollanamdo Province, 1♂ [ MNU14989 ], 1. V. 2023; 1♂ [ MNU14990 ], 30. IV. 2024, Kim, Woo Jin leg.; 1♂ [ CNU 17891 ], Jangseong , Jeollanamdo Province , 1. V. 2024, Kim, Woo Jin leg .

Diagnosis. Superficially, this new species resembles S. soffneri Špatenka, 1983 , and S. bastak Gorbunov & Koshkin, 2023 . However, it can be distinguished by subtle differences in the thickness and shape of the black band along the forewing’s outer margin and the spot on the discal vein of the hindwing. Additionally, while the male genitalia are similar to those of S. velox , the shapes of the crista sacculi and saccus differ.

Description. Holotype ( Fig. 2A and 2B ). Alar expanse 26 mm; body length 14.5 mm; forewing 11.5 mm; antenna about 9 mm. Head: Antennae black with a blue sheen, scapus covered in black scales; frons black, narrowly covered with white scales between frons and the compound eyes; vertex dark brown to black. Labial palpus dorsally dark brown, ventrally covered with pale orange scales, with some black scales on the sides; pericephalic scales black.

Thorax: Dorsally, laterally, and ventrally all black; patagia black; tegula and thoracic dorsum devoid of scales, laterally clearly marked with nearly triangular yellow scales, accompanied by a band of long pale yellow hairs anteriorly. Fore-, mid-, and hind-tarsi with yellow and black scales, otherwise all black, except for a few yellow scales on the ventral surface of the distal third of each femur; spurs black at the base but mostly yellow. Forewing glossy bluish with transparency; costal margin black, with a few indistinct yellow scales near the base; hind margin black, with a yellowish tinge at the basal third; discal spot black, almost as wide as the costal margin, with a few yellow scales distally; veins black; outer margin dark brown; hind margin of the discoidal cell more strongly yellowish than other veins, turning yellow toward the base; cilia blackish-brown. Hindwing glossy bluish with transparency; discal spot narrow, tapering distally; veins and outer margin dark brown; cilia black, becoming longer with a few yellow hairs toward the underside. Underside of wings similar to upperside but with more abundant yellow scales at the base. Abdomen: Black with a bright blue sheen; tergite 1 yellow on the posterior third; tergites 3 and 5 each with a broad yellow stripe posteriorly; sternites black, except for sternite 5, which is orange with scattered black scales; anal tuft black with a bright blue sheen.

Male genitalia ( Fig. 3 ): Tegumen-uncus complex not very wide; scopula androconialis less developed, measuring less than half of the tegumen-uncus complex; crista gnathi medialis short; crista gnathi lateralis slightly narrower than crista gnathi medialis; valva elongated and trapeziform-oval; crista sacculi high and pocket-shaped, not separated from the sensory field of setae proximally; saccus slightly thick, with a somewhat bifurcate basally, and slightly shorter than the vinculum. Aedeagus narrow, onethird the width of the valva; vesica without a cornutus.

Distribution. Korea (Jeollanamdo Province (Suncheon-si, Naju-si, and Jangseong-gun)].

Remarks. Most of the specimens suffered damage to their wings and bodies as a result of being trapped by the pheromone lures.

Etymology. The meaning of the name of this new species is derived from the combination of the collection site, southern part of Korea, Jeollanamdo Province, and its fine clear wings, “elegant”.

Molecular data. The barcode of Synanthedon namdoelegans sp. nov.

Molecular analysis

DNA barcode sequences of S. namdoelegans specimens were either identical or had a maximum difference of only 0.46% (3 bp) ( Table 1 ). Comparison of S. namdoelegans sequences to those of other Synanthedon species showed the sequence divergence ranging from 0.3% (2 bp; S. velox , unpublished, BOLD system acc. no. AEZ9646) to 12.46% (82 bp; S. refulgens, Lait and Hebert, 2018 , MH592815 ). Thus, the BOLD system-registered S. velox sequence is well within the divergence range of S. namdoelegans sequences. However, after excluding S. velox , the minimum sequence divergence increased to 1.98% (13 bp; Synanthedon fulvipes Harris, 1839 , unpublished, JF848560 ) ( Table 1 ). Therefore, our divergence estimates strongly indicate that the proposed S. velox registered in BOLD system is highly likely to be S. namdoelegans , given that no other S. velox sequence is available.

For comparison of the ND1 fragment, four sequence sequences of S. namdoelegans and six individual sequences in three Synanthedon species registered in public data were used. S. namdoelegans sequences were either identical or had maximum difference of only 0.52% (3 bp), while comparison of S. namdoelegans to other species revealed the sequence divergence ranging from 2.61% (15 bp) to 11.34% (65 bp), indicating a distinct difference of S. namdoelegans to other species ( Table 2 ).

Phylogenetic analysis showed that the current four samples of S. namdoelegans formed a well-supported inclusive group with higher nodal supports (SH-aLRT = 76.5, UFBoot = 97), but S. namdoelegans and the proposed S. velox formed the sister group with the higher nodal supports (SH-aLRT = 90.2, UFBoot = 97) ( Fig. 4 ). As mentioned in pairwise comparison of barcode region, however, the proposed S. velox may have been misidentified as S. velox , instead of S. namdoelegans . Excluding the proposed S. velox sequence, S. namdoelegans formed the sister group with S. fulvipes and S. culiciformis Linnaeus, 1758 ( Mutanen et al., 2016, HM871045 ) with the higher nodal supports (SH-aLRT = 99.7, UFBoot = 100) ( Fig. 4 ).

Our morphological and molecular analysis indicate that S. namdoelegans is a previously unknown species in Synanthedon . Its morphological features resemble those of S. velox ( Lee et al., 2011) , but a substantial difference was detected. The male genitalia are superficially similar to S. velox ( Lee et al., 2011) , but the shapes of the crista sacculi and saccus are different.

In the BOLD system, however, one dorsal image of an adult, which is designated as S. velox collected from South Korea (without further detailed information) is uploaded ( Fig. 2C ), along with the DNA barcode sequence (acc. no. AEZ9646; Table 1 and Fig. 4 ). The proposed S. velox has yellow stripes that are located in the 3rd and 5th tergites separately, rather than broadly at 4th and 5th tergites ( Fig. 2C ), indicating that the proposed S. velox is more similar to S. namdoelegans ( Fig. 2A and 2B ), rather than S. velox ( Fig. 2D, 2E, and 2F ). Moreover, S. velox adults are known to emerge and captured from July in South Korea ( Lee et al., 2011), but the proposed S. velox is recorded for the collection date at May 10 in South Korea. Similarly, we collected S. namdoelegans adults from April to May in South Korea. Therefore, we believe that the proposed S. velox is more likely to be current S. namdoelegans , rather than S. velox . Considering all these factors, we conclude that S. namdoelegans is a distinct species within the genus of Synanthedon .

Figures

Fig. 2. Synanthedon namdoelegans collected in this study, along with available public data of S. velox. (A) and (B) The dorsal and ventral image of S. namdoelegans adult male, respectively (voucher specimen no. MNU14990). Photographed by one of the authors, Sung-Soo Kim. (C) The dorsal image of the proposed S. velox adult female collected from South Korea and registered in the BOLD system. Photographed by Sesiidae Research Group. (D) The dorsal image of S. velox adult male collected from South Korea and reported in Lee et al.(2011). (E) Copulation of S. velox on the ground, reported in Lee et al.(2011). (F) A schematic illustration of S. velox adult reported in Fixsen(1887).

Fig. 3. Male genitalia of Synanthedon namdoelegans. (A) Tegumen-uncus complex. (B) Valva. (C) Saccus. (D) Aedeagus.

Fig. 4. Maximum-likelihood tree for 50 DNA barcode sequences of Synanthedon genus, including Synanthdon namdoelegans. The numbers at each node specifies SH-aLRT/UFBoot values. The scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site. Sophona snellingi (HQ564703, unpublished), and Sophona greenfield, (HQ564718, unpublished) were used as outgroups. S. namdoelegans sequenced in this study are provided for the specimen number and collected locality within parenthesis. GenBank or BOLD system accession numbers for public data are provided in parentheses after the scientific names.