Revision of the Lemonia taraxaci complex, with a description of a new species from Italy and clarification of the status of Lemonia strigata (Lepidoptera: Brahmaeidae: Lemoniinae).

The species Lemonia taraxaci (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1755) is divided into three species based on distribution areas and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) distances above 2%: Central European Lemonia taraxaci (type locality: Austria, Vienna area), Eastern European to South Siberian Lemonia sibirica Wnukowsky, 1934 stat. rev., bona sp. (type locality: Russia, Novosibirsk Oblast, Ozero-Karachi and Russia, Altai Krai, Kornilovo), and Italian Lemonia italiana sp. n. (type locality: Italy, Calabria centr., Sila grd., Casali del Manco, San Nicola Silano (CS)). Authorship of Lemonia strigata Antoshin & Zolotuhin, 2011 is reconsidered. The close relation between the typical L. strigata and taraxaci-like adults from the Balkans is proven genetically. According to this, L. strigata is suggested to be a junior synonym of taraxaci-looking Lemonia taraxaci var. montana Buresch, 1915 (type locality: Bulgaria, Rhodope Mts, Musala), although further DNA investigation is needed to prove this hypothesis.

Genus Pempeliella Caradja, 1916 and P.bayassensis Leraut, 2001 (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) in Italy.

Pempeliellabayassensis has been reported for the first time in Italy. This species has been confused with P.ornatella for a long time. Our study of the historical collections of Carlo Prola and Federico Hartig, and also newly collected materials from central Italy, allowed us to verify the presence of P.bayassensis in Italy. At present, this species is known only in central Italy (Lazio), where it coexists with P.ornatella and P.sororiella. We also provide information on the geographical distribution of the genus Pempeliella in Italy. In northern Italy we found P.ornatella and P.sororiella, and in the south (Puglia), P.sororiella. In Sardinia, P.matilella, which has been confused with Delplanqueiacortella in the past, coexists with P.sororiella.