- Source: Ephysteris
Ephysteris is a genus of the twirler moth family (Gelechiidae). Among these, it is assigned to tribe Gnorimoschemini of the subfamily Gelechiinae. Even though it is a rather diverse and widespread group, most of these small and inconspicuous moths were overlooked by scientists until the early 20th century. Almost 90 species are known today but new ones are still being discovered.
These moths typically have forewing veins 2 and 3 separate but veins 6-8 originating from a common stalk. Somewhat less characteristically, their labial palps have a pointed tip and a furrow on the second segment.
Ochrodia and Opacopsis were initially established as subgenera of Ephysteris but elevated to full genus status later. However, this is not universally accepted and both are included in the present genus here. Microcraspedus is another subgenus of Ephysteris, to which many of the European species are assigned; Echinoglossa is another. But before any of these can be accepted as subgenus or even distinct genus, the internal systematics of Ephysteris sensu lato are in need of review.
Species
The species of Ephysteris are:
Subgenus Ephysteris
Ephysteris promptella (Staudinger, 1859)
Subgenus Microcraspedus Janse, 1958
Ephysteris deserticolella (Staudinger, 1871)
Ephysteris diminutella (Zeller, 1847)
Ephysteris iberica Povolny, 1977
Ephysteris insulella (Heinemann, 1870)
Ephysteris insulella praticolella (Christoph 1872)
Ephysteris inustella (Zeller, 1847) (type species of Opacopsis)
Ephysteris inustella gredosensis (Rebel 1935)
Ephysteris olympica Povolny, 1968
Unknown subgenus
Ephysteris accentella Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris aellographa Janse, 1960
Ephysteris arabiae Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris aulacopis (Meyrick, 1923)
Ephysteris brachypogon Meyrick, 1937 (type species of Microcraspedus)
Ephysteris brachyptera Karsholt & Sattler, 1998
Ephysteris chretieni Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris confusa Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris curtipennis (Zerny, 1935)
Ephysteris cyrenaica Povolný, 1981
Ephysteris eremaula (Janse, 1960)
Ephysteris flavida Povolný, 1969
Ephysteris fontosus (Povolný, 1999)
Ephysteris fuscocrossa Janse, 1960
Ephysteris gobabebensis Bidzilya & Mey, 2011
Ephysteris gondwana Bidzilya & Mey, 2011
Ephysteris infirma (Meyrick, 1912)
Ephysteris juvenilis (Meyrick, 1929)
Ephysteris kasyi Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris leptocentra (Meyrick, 1912)
Ephysteris longicornis J.F.G.Clarke, 1986
Ephysteris montana H.H.Li & Bidzilya, 2008
Ephysteris neosirota (Janse, 1950)
Ephysteris ornata (Janse, 1950)
Ephysteris parasynecta Janse, 1963
Ephysteris powelli (Povolný, 1999)
Ephysteris riadensis Povolný, 1968
Ephysteris ruth Povolný, 1977
Ephysteris scimitarella Landry, 2010
Ephysteris semiophanes (Meyrick, 1918)
Ephysteris silignitis (Turner, 1919)
Ephysteris sirota (Meyrick, 1908)
Ephysteris speciosa Povolný, 1977
Ephysteris sporobolella Landry, 2010
Ephysteris suasoria (Meyrick, 1918)
Ephysteris subcaerulea (Meyrick, 1918)
Ephysteris subovata Povolný, 2001
Ephysteris surda (Meyrick, 1923)
Ephysteris synecta (Meyrick, 1909)
Ephysteris tenuisaccus K.Nupponen, 2010
Ephysteris trinota Clarke, 1965 (type species of Echinoglossa)
Ephysteris unica Povolný, 1971
Ephysteris wenquana H.H.Li & Bidzilya, 2008
Mostly placed in Ochrodia
Ephysteris pentamacula Janse, 1958
Ephysteris subdiminutella (Stainton, 1867) (type species of Ochrodia)
Former species
Ephysteris albocapitella
Ephysteris atalopis
Ephysteris australiae
Ephysteris bucolica
Ephysteris buvati (Povolny, 1992)
Ephysteris cacomicra
Ephysteris chersaea
Ephysteris coniogramma
Ephysteris cretigena
Ephysteris crocoleuca
Ephysteris delminiliella
Ephysteris despectella
Ephysteris dierli
Ephysteris dispensata
Ephysteris ericnista
Ephysteris extorris
Ephysteris fanatica
Ephysteris ferritincta
Ephysteris fluidescens
Ephysteris foulonsensis Povolny, 1981
Ephysteris gallica (Povolny, 1992)
Ephysteris hispanica Povolny, 1981
Ephysteris infallax
Ephysteris insularis
Ephysteris jamaicensis
Ephysteris lunaki
Ephysteris monticola
Ephysteris obstans (Meyrick, 1928)
Ephysteris ochrodeta
Ephysteris oschophora
Ephysteris oxythectis
Ephysteris paraleuca
Ephysteris parvula
Ephysteris petiginella
Ephysteris pulverea
Ephysteris sibila
Ephysteris tractatum
Ephysteris treskensis Povolny, 1966
Ephysteris tribulivora
Ephysteris turgida
Ephysteris unitella
Ephysteris xanthorhabda
Ephysteris zygophyllella
Footnotes
References
Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) (2010): Australian Faunal Directory – Ephysteris. Version of 2010-NOV-18. Retrieved 2011-OCT-17.
Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 416: 1-485. PDF fulltext Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine (214 MB!)
Fauna Europaea (FE) (2011): Ephysteris. Version 2.4, 2011-JAN-27. Retrieved 2011-OCT-17.
Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004a): Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species – Ephysteris. Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2011-OCT-17.
Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004b): Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species – Opacopsis. Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2011-OCT-17.
Savela, Markku (2001): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms – Ephysteris. Version of 2001-NOV-08. Retrieved 2011-OCT-17.
Junnilainen, J. & K. Nupponen, 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part I: descriptions of seventeen new species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa 2366: 1-34. Abstract: [1].
Li, H.-H. & O. Bidzilya, 2008: A review of the genus Ehystris Meyrick, 1908 from China, with descriptions of two new species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa 1733: 45-56 Abstract: [2].
Mey, W., 2011: New and little known species of Lepidoptera of southwestern Africa. Esperiana Buchreihe zur Entomologie Memoir 6: 146-261.