Rediscovery of Carposina niponensis Walsingham and Carposinids Caught by Synthetic Sex Pheromone Trap for C. sasakii Matsumura in Japan (Lepidoptera: Carposinidae)

Carposina niponensis Walsingham, which had not been collected after 1886 in Japan, was caught in a synthetic sex pheromone trap for the peach fruit moth, C. sasakii Matsumura, in Wakayama and Oita Prefectures in 2008. Using traps in sixteen localities from Hokkaido to Kyushu in 2009, seven carposinids, C. sasakii, C. niponensis, C. maritima Ponomarenko, Meridarchis excisa (Walsingham), M. jumboa Kawabe, Peragrachis syncolleta (Meyrick) and Commatarcha palaeosema Meyrick, were captured. The adults and male genitalia of these species are illustrated, and keys to the species based on the external features and male genitalia are given. Numbers of captured C. sasakii by each of three synthetic pheromone components, (Z)-13-eicosen-10-one (A), (Z)-12-nonadecen-9-one (B), and A+B (20: 1 ratio), rose in the orders A, A+B, and B, and component A alone was sufficient bait for male moths, as already reported. Matsumura listed the peach fruit moth under the name Carpocapsa persicana Sasaki in his book published in 1897, but the name had not been used as a valid name before that time; therefore, the author of persicana is not Sasaki but Matsumura, as per Article 50.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (4th edition) (ICZN). The name persicana Matsumura, 1897, is the oldest available name for the peach fruit moth, and so the name sasakii Matsumura, 1900, is a junior synonym. The name persicana Matsumura (as Sasaki) has been used in at least three works, published in 1901, 1902, 1905 by one author, after 1899; however, the name sasakii has been found in many studies published by many authors since 1989. Consequently, we consider that the use of the older name, persicana Matsumura, would threaten the stability and cause confusion, and so wish to maintain the use of the younger synonym, sasakii Matsumura (Article 23.9 of ICZN). The name persicana Sasaki, 1905, which has been treated as a junior synonym for sasakii Matsumura or niponensis Walsingham, is a primary homonym of persicana Matsumura and permanently invalid, as per Article 57.2 of ICZN.