Records and descriptions of Microlepidoptera (7)

OLETHREUTINAE (Eucosmidae auct., Eucosminae auct.) Introduction The study of the South Asiatic representatives of the subfamily Olethreutinae of the Tortricidae is difficult on account of various reasons. Our basic knowledge of this group of insects originates from the knowledge of the Palaearctic fauna; unfortunately the taxonomy, and especially the nomenclature of the European Olethreutinae has for a long time been in a deplorable state of confusion and only recent pioneer work along modern lines, chiefly by Obraztsov, leads to some order. Unavoidably this confusion throws a shadow upon the study of the Olethreutinae from other regions than the Palaearctis. Since genital characters are of cardinal importance for the classification of the genera and species of the present group, it is clear that a fundamental revision is necessary, because nobody has ever bothered about these characters before, at least with regard to the South Asiatic fauna. When describing species from that region classic authors, as e.g., Snellen, usually chose a convenient generic name, familiar to the students of the Palaearctic fauna, to attribute them to ; Meyrick, as conveniently, merged many species in one of some four of his enormous genera. Many species of Olethreutinae are ornated with intricate markings that are very difficult to describe in a terse diagnose, as was the habit with those older authors; these descriptions are still more difficult to read! Other species are uniform to such an extent that their identification is impossible without the use of genital characters. Furthermore, Meyrick