Systematic And Taxonomic Study On The Tribe Aeromachini Tutt (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) From China

This paper deals with the study on phylogeny and taxonomy of the tribe Aeromachini Tutt (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) from China, composed of two major parts: the phylogenetic analysis and the taxonomic study. At first the background, the material and the method for this work are introduced. The morphological characters and terminology for the skippers are defined. The concept and practical standard of distinguishing species and the method of identifying species are discussed. The software used and the operating procedure in the phylogenetic analysis are briefly introduced.In the phylogenetic analysis, 24 genera and 31 species in total were dealt with, 155 morphological characters in both external features and male genitalia were defined and used for the most parsimony analysis, using software of Winclada (Nona) and PAUP. The following conclusions were made: 1) the tribe Aeromachini composed of the following nine genera is monophyletic: Pithauria, Onryza, Halpe, Thoressa, Sovia, Parasovia, Sebastonyma, Ochus and Ampittia; 2) the genus Ampittia can not be separated from Aeromachini, otherwise the tribe Aeromachini is paraphyletic; 3) the phylogenetic positions of Aeromachus and Arnetta are uncertain at present, both of them are not included in any groups with high branch support in morphological phylogeny; 4) the genus Astictopterus does not belong to Aeromachini; 5) the genus Apostictopterus does not belong to Aeromachini; 6) both Aeromachus dalailama (comb.rev.) and Aeromachus nanus (comb.rev.) belong to Aeromachus instead of Ampittia.The taxonomic study was based upon an examination of many specimens collected from the field for years or exchanged from the colleagues. Totally 11 genera and 68 species of Aeromachini from China are concerned, one new species is described, and two species are recorded as new to Chinese fauna. Key to genera of Aeromachini, keys to world species of most genus and keys to Chinese species of the remaining three genera are provided. Synonymic checklists are given for world species of all the genera in Aeromachini. For all the Chinese species, the references citations, the data of specimens examined in this work, the distribution and the taxonomic notes are presented. The references citation for each species includes all the combinations published, all the junior synonyms published, the misspellings and misidentifications in major works, and the reliable records for Chinese fauna. Photographs of adult habitus and male genitalia are provided for early all the Chinese species.New species found in this work: Thoressa yingqii sp.nov.Species new to Chinese fauna: Pithauria marsena (Hewitson), Sovia eminens Devyatkin。Revised combinations: Aeromachus dalailama (Mabille),Aeromachus nanus (Leech).New synonyms:Ampittia sichuanensis Wang & Niu syn. nov. (=Aeromachus dalailama (Mabille)), Pedesta hishikawai Yoshino syn. nov. (=Thoressa pedla (Evans)), Thoressa nanshaona Murayama syn. nov. (= Thoressa pandita (de Niceville)), Pedesta naumanni Huang syn. nov. (=Thoressa hyrie (de Niceville)).