Abstract
Europe has one of the best-known Lepidopteran faunas in the world, yet many species are still being discovered, especially in groups of small moths. Here we describe a new gracillariid species from the south-eastern Alps, Callisto basistrigella Huemer, Deutsch & Triberti, sp. n. It shows differences from its sister species Callisto coffeella in morphology, the barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase I gene and the nuclear gene histone H3. Both Callisto basistrigella and Callisto coffeella can co-occur in sympatry without evidence of admixture. Two Callisto basistrigella specimens show evidence of introgression. We highlight the importance of an integrative approach to delimit species, combining morphological and ecological data with mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. Furthermore, in connection with this study, Ornix blandella Müller-Rutz, 1920, syn. n. is synonymized with Callisto coffeella (Zetterstedt, 1839).
Highlights
Lepidoptera – butterflies and moths – are one of the most well-documented insect orders, but it is estimated that thousands of species, especially small-sized ones inhabiting the tropics, are still awaiting formal description
We examined the morphology of 135 dried, pinned and mostly set specimens belonging to C. coffeella s.l., the majority originating from the Alps, and half a dozen from Scandinavia
We detected two moths which morphologically corresponded to C. basistrigella but with a COI barcode they fell into the cluster of C. coffeella
Summary
Lepidoptera – butterflies and moths – are one of the most well-documented insect orders, but it is estimated that thousands of species, especially small-sized ones inhabiting the tropics, are still awaiting formal description. The integration of genetic data into taxonomic studies, especially with the advance of DNA barcoding campaigns (the construction of libraries of DNA barcodes for identification), has revealed many cases of cryptic or overlooked species in the tropics (Janzen et al 2009, 2012), and in some of the most studied regions such as Europe (Mutanen et al 2012a, b, c, 2013). As all known Callisto species, C. coffeella adults have forewings with dark brown to blackish ground color with silvery white, oblique streaks (Figs 1–4). Due to these conspicuous wing markings they are relatively easy to identify. The alpha taxonomy of European Callisto has been established for a long time, with Callisto insperatella (Nickerl, 1864) being the most recently described species
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