2018 Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 1-9
Blastobasidae are one of the most taxonomically difficult groups within the Gelechioidea. In addition, less than 10 percent of the species have host associations. Recently, observations of larvae of Blastobasidae revealed that they caused early fruit drop of the Satsuma mandarin, Citrus unshiu (Swingle) Marcowicz in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Other larval rearings obtained blastobasid adults from the living bark tissue of the persimmon, Diospyros kaki Thunberg. This study attempts to identify these reared specimens and to enhance the host-plant records of Blastobasidae. DNA barcoding and morphological observation reveal that four of the five moths reared from Citrus fruits are Lateantenna inana (Butler, 1881) n. comb., a newly recorded blastobasid species from Japan, and herein transferred from Blastobasis Zeller, 1855. Molecular and morphological studies further identify the species whose larvae attacked bark of D. kaki and fruits ofCitrus as L. decolor (Meyrick, 1907). New host records of L. inana and L. decolor are reported along with distributional ranges of the two species. In addition, Lateantenna scotia Turner, 1947 n. comb. is herein also transferred from Blastobasis.
