Five New Species Of Snout Moths Identified

The discovery of five new species brings the total number of snout moth species in China to ten.

AsianScientist (Jan. 10, 2017) – Researchers at the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have described five new species of snout moths, an unusually colorful genus that has been compared to butterflies. Their results have been published in Zookeys.

Despite their interesting morphology, snout moths (genus Lista) remain poorly understood. With their brightly colored wings—often pink, orange or yellow—they are strikingly different from the rest of their subfamily (Epipaschiinae).

Entomologists Drs. Wang Mingqiang, Chen Fuqiang and Professor Wu Chunsheng used light traps to capture the moths. Apart from the five new species—L. angustusa, L. gilvasa, L. longifundamena, L. menghaiensis, and L. sichuanensis—they also reported the presence of two species in China for the first time.

As a result of the present study, there are now ten species of Lista snout moths recognized in China, out of the 13 species known globally.


The article can be found at: Wang et al. (2017) A Review of Lista Walker, 1859 in China, with Descriptions of Five New Species (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae, Epipaschiinae).

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Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences; Photo: Wang Mingqiang.
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