Abstract:

Aim: Lepidoptera is one of the largest orders in Insecta. It is of high economic importance, as many Lepidopteran pest species occur all over the world. China crosses the Palaearctic and the Oriental regions and has many new species described each year, making it one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. The aim of this study is to summarize the new taxa of Lepidoptera from China reported in 2021.

Methods: Information regarding new species, newly recorded species, new synonyms and combinations were collected from related taxonomic journals. In total, 104 articles and 1 monograph were selected, based on which the scientific names, the type localities, and the other relevant information were sorted out. The new taxa of the Chinese Lepidoptera published by domestic and foreign researchers in 2021 were summarized.

Results: A total of 230 new taxa were recorded, including 7 new genera, 215 new species, 8 new subspecies, and 78 newly recorded species (including 2 subspecies) for China. Additionally, 31 new combinations, 4 new synonyms and 2 new replacement names were proposed. All of the new species and subspecies belong to 34 families of Lepidoptera.

Conclusions: The number of new species and newly recorded species published in Yunnan Province in 2021 was significantly higher than that in other regions of China, accounting for 36.8% and 39.7% of the total published new species and newly recorded species in China, respectively. All the data show that the published new species and newly recorded species collected from southern China in 2021 are still significantly higher than those collected from northern China.

Key words: Lepidoptera, new taxa, new combination, new synonyms, new record, China