Acronicta major ( Bremer, 1861 )

Acronicta major ( Bremer, 1861) View in CoL

( Figs 1–4 View Figures 1–8 , 9–16 View Figures 9–23 , 24–25 View Figures 24–27 , 28–29 View Figures 28–31 )

Acronycta major Bremer, 1861: 484 View in CoL . Type locality: Russia, “Ussuri Ema” [= Primorye terr.].

Triaena anaedina Butler, 1881: 19 View in CoL . Type locality: Japan, Tokyo.

Acronicta major View in CoL ab. defigurata Warren, 1910: 15. Type locality: unknown.

Acronicta major ssp. atritaigena Dubatolov & Zolotarenko, [1996] : 34, fig. 1b. Type locality: Russia, South Siberia , Altai.

Redescription. This species is very similar to the former species on overall features but they can be distinguished from each other in the external and genital features as shown in Table 2.

Material examined. KOREA [Gangwon] 1♀, Gangreung-si, Yeongok-myeon, Odaesan Resting Place (N37°49′58.4″ E128°39′02.7″, alt. 283 m), 4 viii 2004 ( SW Cho, JC Sohn & HJ Park), CBNU GoogleMaps ; 1♂, Korea, Gangwon Prov., Taebaeg-si, Hwabangjae (N37°06′52″ E128°54′41″, alt. 953 m), 30 vii 2002 ( DP Lyu, HJ Park & SC Nam), CBNU GoogleMaps . [Seoul] 2♂, Seoul-si, Seongbug-gu, Korea University (in campus), 19 v 1961 ( YB Yoo), GJUE ; 1♂, ditto, 27 v 1961 ( YB Yoo), GJUE . [Gyonggi] 1♂, Cheongpyeong , 13 viii 1972 ( SM Lee), GJUE ; 1♂, Hwanseong-si, Gijeon-ri , 15 vi 1996 ( JC Yun), GJUE ; 1♂, Pyeongteg , 9 vi 1974, GJUE ; 1♂, Suwon , 9 vi 1976 ( JC Paik), GJUE ; 1♂, ditto, 23 vi 1976 ( JC Paik), GJUE ; 1♀, Yeoncheon , 10 ix 1991, GJUE . [Chungbug] 1♂, Goesan , 11–15 ix 1991, GJUE ; 1♂, Jecheon-si, Hansu-myeon, Songgye-li , Mt. Weolagsan (N35°51′56.0″ E128°05′20.0″, alt. 222 m), 18 vi 2004 (S Cho, S Nam & Y Han), CBNU GoogleMaps . [Chungnam] 1♂ 2♀, Gongju-si, Mt. Gyeryongsan, Templ. Donghagsa , 28 vii 1979, GJUE ; 1♀, Gongju-si, Mt. Gyeryongsan, Templ. Gapsa , 29 vii 1979, [GSN] SJC-705, GJUE . [Jeonbug] 1♂, Muju-gun, Mupung-myeon, Samgeo-ri (N35°52′02.0″ E127°49′42.2″, alt. 933 m), 27 vii 2003 ( SW Cho, SC Nam & DB Kwon), CBNU GoogleMaps . [Jeonnam] 3♂ 1♀, Gulye-gun, Sandong-myeon, Mt. Jirisan , Nogodan Cabin (N35°17′35.4″ E127°31′41.1″, alt. 1,344 m), 20 vii 2004 (S Cho, JC Sohn & HJ Park), [GSN] SJC-752(♂), [DNA] JCS-COI-D-314, CBNU GoogleMaps ; 1♂, Suncheon-si, Mt. Chogyesan , 2 viii 1994 ( SB Ahn), [GSN] SJC-756, GJUE . [Gyeongbug] 2♂, Ulleung-gun, Is. Ulleungdo, Ulleung-eup , Jeodong-ri , Naesujeon trail (N37°31′01.0″ E130°54′18.6″, alt. 340 m), 28 v 2017, JCS-COI 17-010, CBNU GoogleMaps ; 1♀, Yeongdeok , 26–30 ix 1991, GJUE . [Gyeongnam] 1♂, Geoje-si, Jangmog-myeon, Jangmog-ri , Jangmunpo Waeseong (N34°59′30.8″ E128°40′25.2″), 23 viii 2004 ( SW Cho, JC Sohn & SC Nam), CBNU GoogleMaps ; 1♂, Haman-gun, Chilgog-myeon , 6 ix 2002 ( JK Kim), [GSN] SJC-237, GJUE ; 1♂, Ulsan-si, Eonyang, Mt. Gajisan , Baenaegol (valley), 28 vi 2000 ( JY Choi ), NIAST . [Jeju] 3♂, Is. Jejudo, Seogwipo-si, Beobjeongag (N33°19′22.2″ E126°28′02.6″, alt. 895 m), 1 viii 2003 (S Cho et al.), [GSN] SJC-754, JCS-COI 17-003, CBNU GoogleMaps . CHINA [Jilin] 1♂, Chongshan, Mt. Changbaishan (alt. 720 m), 3 viii 2002 (Park, Han & Kim), [GSN] SJC-762, GJUE .

Distribution. Korea, Japan, China, Russia (Far East, South Siberia).

Host plants. Polyphagous: Fabaceae – Robinia spp. ; Moraceae – Morus spp. ; Rosaceae – Malus spp. , Prunus spp. , Pyrus spp. ; Salicaceae – Salix spp. ; Sapindaceae – Acer spp. ; Ulmaceae – Zelkova spp. ( Yamamoto & Sugi 1987; Lee & Chung 1997).

Remarks. The specimens of A. major from two remote islands of Korea, Jejudo and Ulleungdo exhibit the paler wings than the inland ones ( Figs 3–4 View Figures 1–8 ). This species has been treated as a pest on cultivated mulberries ( Lim et al. 2017). The status needs to be reconsidered, since the larvae of A. gigasa also feed on the plants.

2. COI divergences

Our NJ tree of 13 COI barcodes against an outgroup, Acronicta rumicis showed their division into two clades, corresponding to A. major and A. gigasa ( Fig. 32 View Figure 32 ). The average infraspecific divergences of A. major clade and A. gigasa clade were 1.07 and 0.08% in K2P and 1.13 and 0.08% in p -distance, respectively. The average interspecific COI divergence of those two species was 6.22% in K2P and 6.17% in p -distance ( Table 3). The A. major clade was divided into two subclades (“A” and “B” in Fig. 32 View Figure 32 ). The subclade A exhibited 0.51% of average COI divergence (0.52% in p -distance) among the included individuals from two remote islands, Jejudo and Ulleungdo, Russia and an unknown locality of Korea. The subclade B comprised one individual from Mt. Jirisan of Korea and two from China and their average COI divergence was 0.43% in K2P and 0.47% in p -distance. The average COI divergence between two subclades of A. major was 2.35% in K2P and 2.39% in p -distance ( Table 3).

Discussion

The Larger Dagger moth, Acronicta major occurs broadly in the temperate East Asia including Korea ( Kononenko et al. 1998). It is considered as a common species flying in June and July across South Korea ( Kim et al. 1982). The larvae occasionally cause minor damage on colonnades and trees of economic importance in the country ( Lee & Chung 1997; Moon & Lee 2014; Lim et al. 2017; Ahn et al. 2022). Our study on the Korean populations of hitherto known “ A. major ” revealed that they are in fact mixed with another species, A. gigasa . This necessitates a reconsideration of their distribution and bionomics in Korea. To make the situation complicate, those two species in some localities occur sympatrically and also share mulberries as larval hosts. They exhibit clear differences in the genital features, while their superficial appearance is nearly indistinguishable. The black streak on the basal area of the forewing is narrower and shorter in A. gigasa than in A. major . These differences, however, become obscure in some specimens. Therefore, reliable identification of those two species needs examination of their genitalia.

Our NJ clustering of COI barcodes included eight and five accounts of A. major and A. gigasa , respectively. The resulting tree showed the less divergence among the Korean and Taiwanese specimens of A. gigasa than those among the specimens of A. major from various localities. The local populations of A. major were divided into two subclades possibly representing subspecies. There have been two subspecies of A. major, ssp. major and atritaigena, known from Russia. The individuals of A. major from Islands Jejudo and Ulleungdo appears similar to ssp. atritaigena in the external features. On the other hand, Han & Kononenko (2010) disputed the subspecies status of atritaigena. In fact, the subspecific division of A. major needs examination of the local populations broadly sampled across East Asia. The taxonomic status of two subclades of A. major found from the present study is pending, until such examination becomes available.

The trivial COI divergences between the populations of A. gigasa from Korea and Taiwan may imply their separation relatively recent. The extant biota of Taiwan originated from Asian continent or its surrounding islands ( Ali 2017). In fact, the island has been periodically connected with Asian mainland through a land bridge ( Qu et al. 2015). Jowers et al. (2019) proposed that the dispersal of some mammals involved in the land bridge. In such cases, the Ryukyu Islands arc system played a pivotal role, leading to the similarity in the biotas of Japan, Chinese mainland and Taiwan. A faunistic belt linking Korea, Taiwan and southern China, and excluding Japan, has gained less attention. The distribution of A. gigasa may provide an example of such belt. A bombycid, Rotunda rotundapex ( Miyata & Kishida, 1990) seems another example ( Wang et al. 2015). The distributional pattern can be better explained by vicariance along fragmentation processes of East Asian margins during Quaternary glacial cycling. Such geological events seem of particular interest but remain unstudied. Furthermore, an Indochinese species, A. meghala exhibits closer affinity to A. major than to A. gigasa in the genital features. The phylogenetic relationships of the East Asian members of A. major species-group may help in understanding their current distributions but such information is still on demand.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), funded by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) of the Republic of Korea (NIBR202203201).

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