Gandaritis pyraliata

Gandaritis pyraliata (Denis & Schiffermüller)

(Fig. 38)

Gandaritis pyraliata: Beljaev & Mironov 2019: 264 (Sakhalin).

Material examined. 2 ♂, 3 ♀, S Kholmsk, 02.VIII.2017, 24.VII.2018, 18, 27.VII.2021, 22.VII.2022; 5 ♂, Yasnomorskoe, 18, 19, 22, 23.VII.2019.

Distribution. Russia (S RFE: SW Sakhalin, S Khabarovskii Krai, Amurskaya Oblast, Primorskii Krai; Yakutia, Central and W Siberia, Urals, European Part, N Caucasus), N China, Mongolia, Transcaucasia, Europe.

Remarks. The finding of G. pyraliata in Sakhalin significantly expands its distribution range to the east. The moths prefer meadows, fly in the second half of July and beginning of August. The known host plants of the larvae in Europe are various Galium (Rubiaceae).

Xue & Zhu (1999), keeping G. pyraliata in the genus Eulithis Hübner, noted the transitional position of this species between Eulithis and Gandaritis Moore, and that its taxonomic status needs further study. Choi (2001) transferred pyraliata in Gandaritis on the basis of morphological phylogenetic parsimony analysis. But G. pyraliata only partly corresponds to the Choi’s generic diagnosis of Gandaritis, having cortnuti on vesica in the aedeagus and a different shape of the valvae. Actually, G. pyraliata differs from the other representatives of the genus Gandaritis and from the species of the genus Eulithis by morphology, by the rest posture of the moth, and by the larvae hostplant.Also, G. pyraliata is not close to any other Palearctic and East Asian genera of the tribe Cidariini. Perhaps this species deserves a separate genus, but to verify this one would need a wide genetic revision of Cidariini.