DNA barcoding of Tineidae from South Italian forests reveals faunistic novelties and potentially undescribed species (Lepidoptera, Tineoidea)

Tineidae Latreille, 1810 includes about 119 species in Italy. Despite their economic and ecological importance, this family remains poorly studied in peninsular Italy, primarily due to taxonomic impediment. The aims of this paper were to improve molecular reference libraries to overcome the taxonomic impediment and to increase the knowledge of Tineidae in South Italian forests. The examined material was collected from the southernmost tip of peninsular Italy. A total of 85 specimens were DNA barcoded, recovering 74 sequences and 27 Barcode Index Numbers of which three are new to the Barcode of Life Data system. 66 specimens were assigned to 24 species. 67% of these identified species represent new records for parts of Italy or for the entire country. Notably, Pelecystola fraudulentella (Zeller, 1852) is new for Italy, while Haplotinea insectella (Fabricius, 1794), Reisserita relicinella (Herrich-Schäffer, 1853), Stenoptinea cyaneimarmorella (Millière, 1854), Monopis neglecta Šumpich & Liška, 2011, and Triaxomera fulvimitrella (Sodoffsky, 1830) are new for South Italy. Additionally, 10 species are new for the Calabria region. The most interesting cases concern eight specimens belonging to the genera Nemapogon Schrank, 1802 and Neurothaumasia Le Marchand, 1934. These specimens exhibited genetic distance ranging of 3.74% and 6.73% respectively from their nearest neighbors and morphology of genitalia cannot help to assign them to a known species. Further taxonomic studies are needed to ascertain their taxonomy.