Taxonomic Notes on the Genus Horipsestis MATSUMURA, 1933 (Lepidoptera, Thyatiridae)

Abstract

The genus Horipsestis was established by MATSUMURA in 1933 for H. teikichiana MATSUMURA, 1933, from Taiwan, and it was soon after cited by FORBES (1936) with the description of the male genitalia of H. teikichiana. However, these papers have rather been neglected by subsequent workers, and generic name Horipsestis has never been used thereafter. Recently, I have a chance to examine the genitalia slide of the male holotype of Horipsestis teikichiana, and I was aware of the fact that this species is conspecific with Polyploca aenea WILEMAN, 1911, described from Taiwan, for which INOUE (1982) proposed a new genus Neochropacha. On the other hand, Palimpsestis mushana MATSUMURA, 1931, described from Taiwan was recently sunk into Polyploca aenea WILEMAN as a junior synonym by INOUE (1976) when he recorded aenea from Japan. My detailed examination of MATSUMURA'S type-series and further material have revealed that mushana is a good species, never a synonym of aenea. Here I am going to redescribe the genus Horipsestis, with discussions on the above cited species-group taxa.