Half of the Diversity Undescribed: Integrative Taxonomy Reveals 32 New Species and a High Cryptic Diversity in the Scopariinae and Crambinae of the Philippines (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Abstract

The Crambinae and Scopariinae (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) of the Philippines are revised here using DNA barcoding and morphology. In the Scopariinae, 20 species are reported from the Philippines, of which 14 are described as new: Scoparia abo sp. n., S. aenea sp. n., S. bicornuta sp. n., S. fulvida sp. n., S. ifugaoensis sp. n., S. luzonensis sp. n., S. masiita sp. n., S. negrosensis sp. n., S. tenuispina sp. n., Eudonia penicula sp. n., Micraglossa kianganensis sp. n., and Micraglossa polisensis sp. n. In the Crambinae, 42 species are found in the Philippines, with half of them described here as new: Calamotropha anacantha sp. n., Calamotropha philippinensis sp. n., Catoptria philippinensis sp. n., Culladia pseudoscoparia sp. n., Gargela aculea sp. n., Gargela acutibrachium sp. n., Gargela bidentella sp. n. , Glaucocharis altissima sp. n., Glaucocharis hamulus sp. n., Glaucocharis kayumanggi sp. n., Glaucocharis kabundukanis sp. n., Glaucocharis negrosensis sp. n., Glaucocharis uncusellus sp. n., Glaucocharis sungay sp. n., Metaeuchromius makintabus sp. n., Metaeuchromius rizali sp. n., Microchilo bundoki sp. n., Microchilo cebuano sp. n., Microchilo imminutela sp. n., and Microchilo spinosus sp. n. Scoparia philippinensis (Hampson, 1917) and Metaeuchromius micralis (Hampson, 1919) comb. nov. as well as female genitalia of Calamotropha obliterans (Walker, 1863) are redescribed, and first descriptions of male genitalia of Glaucocharis clytia (Błeszyński, 1966) and Calamotropha unicolorellus (Zeller, 1863) are provided. Euchromius brunnealis (Hampson, 1919) syn.nov. is synonymized with Metaeuchromius micralis comb. nov. Culladia tonkinella (Walker, 1865), Eudonia barbipennis (Hampson, 1897), Gargela minuta Song, Chen & Wu, 2009, Gargela polyacantha Li, 2019, Gargela xanthocasis (Meyrick, 1897), Glaucocharis lathonia (Błeszyński, 1966) and Glaucocharis clytia (Bleszynski, 1966) are reported here for the first time from the Philippines. DNA barcodes of 359 specimens indicate a perfect match with the Molecular Operational Taxonomy Unit (“MOTU”) in 45 of the 66 morphospecies (68%), while nineteen of the morphospecies included one or more MOTUs, and three MOTUs were shared among more than one morphospecies. Forty MOTUs represented by females only suggest further unrecognized species in these groups. An apparent endemism rate of 95% is observed in mountain-dwelling Scopariinae, while the Crambinae show a lower endemism rate of roughly 50% presumably due to the occurrence of many lowland species. Further expeditions to undersampled islands and mountains will surely reveal additional species.