Larvae of Carmara subcervina Walker, 1863, Oruza obliquaria Marumo, 1932, Hypenagonia longipalpis Hampson, 1912, and Simplicia caeneusalis (Walker, [1859]) (Herminiinae) were collected from dead leaves remaining on trees on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, in late November. The larvae and host plants of C. subcervina, O. obliquaria, and H. longipalpis are reported for the first time. The ecology of S. caeneusalis larvae is still poorly understood.

The genus Ancylophyes Diakonoff, 1988 is recorded from Japan for the first time. Ancylophyes iriomotensis Nasu & Mano, n. sp. is described from Iriomote-jima Is., Okinawa Pref., the Ryukyus, Japan. The adult and genitalia are illustrated.

The external differences among adults of four Japanese species in the Amphipyra pyramidea group were examined. As a result, no critical diagnostic features were found to distinguish the four species individually, and most external characters traditionally used for their identification were considered unreliable. However, we determined that Amphipyra horiei can be distinguished from the other three species by the darker coloration on the underside of the hindwings.

To clarify the interspecific relationship between Acronicta carbonaria and Acronicta subornata, we conducted the followings: comparative analysis of their genital structures, rearing experiments, and comparison of their DNA sequences. Although the male genital structures are clearly different between the two species, both species were emerged from the eggs laid by A. carbonaria females. Furthermore, the mitochondrial DNA sequences of the COI region (667 bp) were completely identical between the two species. These results suggest that A. carbonaria and A. subornata are seasonal forms of the same species as indicated by Saito (1996).

The seasonal occurrence of the non-native butterfly Hestina assimilis assimilis (Linnaeus) in Honshu, central Japan, was investigated by field observations of larvae on Celtis sinensis as the host plant and adults. The study sites were parks and green spaces in urban and suburban areas of Chiba, Saitama, and Aichi prefectures. Surveys of the sites in the Kanto region from 2019 to 2023 revealed four periods of 5th instar larval occurrence per year, which were in April, June, August, and September to October. Adults emerged 16-38 days after the molting to 5th instar larvae. Most of the yearly final larvae could be divided morphologically into two forms: 4th instar of the diapausing morphotype and 5th instar of the normal morphotype via 4th instar at a population ratio of about 5 : 1. Adults of the fourth generation laid eggs, a few of which hatched and developed into diapausing 4th instar larvae, indicating that H. a. assimilis exhibits three generation cycles per year with a much lower frequency of the fourth generation producing overwintering larvae. Field observations also revealed that H. a. assimilis larvae preferred to live in young host trees, in contrast to the allied native species Hestina japonica, suggesting that interspecific competition of these species for food plants at the larval stage is avoided through spatial segregation. These results expand our knowledge of the ecology of H. a. assimilis in central Japan and provide further insights into its ecological relationship to allied native species with which it shares C. sinensis as the host plant.

最終報となる本論文では，2種群4種についての記載または再記載を行った．それらのうち2種は新種，M. tsushimaensis Kitajima & Sakamaki sp. nov., M. yaeyamaensis Kitajima & Sakamaki sp. nov.である．また，本論文のパートII（Kitajima and Sakamaki, 2021）において，M. sp. 4として扱った種がM. robustispina Wang, 2020と同定できた．これまで本種の雌は知られていなかったが，今回初めて雌個体を報告した．なお，本論文のパートI（Kitajima and Sakamaki, 2020）で8種，パートII（Kitajima and Sakamaki, 2021）で7種（M. sp. 4として扱ったM. robustispina Wangを除く）を扱い，本報と併せて19種を日本産Meleonoma属として記録した．