Genus Epicopeia Westwood from Japan, Korea and Taiwan : Lepidoptera:Epicopeidae

In this paper are discussed synonymy and subspeciation of two Species of East Asiatic Epicopeia, mencia Moore and hainesii Holland. E. mencia Moore. This species is found from the Ussuri district, Manchuria, north and east China, Korea and Taiwan. Geographic variation is not recognized by my comparison of Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese specimens, though there are two forms : normal and white-banded. Transitional varieties of various degrees are also found. The synonymy of this unstable species stated in this paper are: Epicopeia mencia Moore, 1874, Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond. 1874 : 578, p1. 67 : 8. E. ormosana Nagano, 1912, Ins. World, Gifu, 16 : 260, 264, p1. 14: 3. Syn. nov. E. albofasciata Djakonov, 1926, Rev. Russe Entomol. 20 : 284. E. longicauda Matsumura, 1931, 6000 Ill. Ins. Jap. : 938, no. 1490. E. mencia licenti Strelkov, 1932, Pubs Mus. Hoang Ho Pai Ho, Tientsin, 7 : 6, p1. 1: 2, 4, 5; p1. 2: 1, 2. Syn. nov. E. mencia var. aemilii Strelkov, 1932, op. cit. : 9, p1. 2 : 3. Syn. nov. E. mencia var. gandissanti Strelkov, 1932, op. cit. : 10. Syn. nov. E. mencia var. paviovi Strelkov, 1932, op. cit. : 11. Syn. nov. E. hirayamaj Matsumura, 1935, Insecta. Matsumurana, 9 : 123, figs. E. hainesii Holland. The distributiion of this species is similar to that of the preceding species, but its range extends to Japan. Geographic variation is obvious, and the following subspecies are demonstrated in this paper E. hainesii Izainesii Holland, 1889, Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 16 : 72. Mainland of Japan : southeast Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. E. hainesii sinicaria Leech, 1897, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 19 : 181. Central, east and west China. Distinguished from the nominate subspecies by absence of red spot in ceilule 7 of hindwing. E. Ii. mipallida Oberthur and E. Ii. p zllescens Oberthur from Tibet and W. China, respectively, are probably not distinguishable from sinicaria. E. hainesii matsumurai Okano, 1973, Artes Liberales (Coll. of Liberal Arts, Iwate Univ. ), 13 82, p1. 2 : 1-8 p1. 3 : 4, 5. Taiwan. As in the above subspecies, the red spot in cellule 7 is absent on upper and under surface, but marginal red spots larger and tail broader and shorter than in the two subspecies cited above. Besides blackish normal form, there are specimens with white ground colour and also intermediate forms connecting the two forms. E. hainesii tsushimana subsp. nov. Found on the island of Tsushima; the same subspecies may be discovered from south Korea in future. The red spot in cellule 7 of hindwing absent or almost vanished on upper surface, but it is present on under surface. Forewing with M simple in cell, not consisting a triangular areole by branching of vein M at near the end of cell, while in the other subspecies the areole in cell is almost always present. Tail long and slender as in sinicaria. Although in sinicaria and matsumurai pale or whitish form has been discovered, hainesii and tsushinzana are monotypically blackish, but the latter has outer half of forewing paler than the former. HOLOTYPE, ♂. Konokiyama, Tsushima, 1. ix. 1973 (T. Watanabe). PARATYPES. Type-locality, 29, vii. 1973, 1♂ ; Nenbutsuzaka, 31. viii. 1973, 1♂ ; Oboshiyama, 4. ix. 1973, 2♂ (T. Watanabe) ; Sasuna, 30. vii. 1968, 1♂ (T. Yamasaki) ; Sasuna, 7-8. viii. 1975, 1♂ (Y. Kishida) Nii, 26. viii. 1975, 1♂ ; Sasuna, 23. viii. 1975, 1♂ (H. Nakajima). All in coil. H. Inoue.