The mitochondrial COI gene has proven successful for identifying the lepidopteran species. In addition, this gene has been applied to recognize cryptic species and confirm a polyphagous species as one species. However, it has been also reported misidentification in the COI gene. As a result, some researchers have suggested the use of additional genes in species identification, especially, nuclear genes.
In this study, we observed that a nuclear EF1agene is better than the mitochondrial COI gene in recognizing Stathmopoda species. For example, among the all species, 47 individuals of nine species, a large intraspecific pairwise difference were detected, up to 15.0% in universal barcoding regions of the COI gene, 22.0% in other part of the COI gene; however, 2.0% in EF1a. In contrast, Stathmopoda sp2 and S. commoda were separated into several clusters in each different COI regions, and some individuals of S. auriferella and S. commoda, were closer to each other separating from the cluster of the same species. But, we get clear results from the EF1a, Stathmopoda species well clustered and could be distinguished.

• Sora Kim(Jungbu regional office, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Korea, Department of Agricultural Bio-Technology, Seoul National University, Korea)
• Wonhoon Lee(Crop Protection Division, [Dept. of Agricultural Biology,] National Academy of Agricultural Science, RDA, Korea)
• Yerim Lee(Department of Agricultural Bio-Technology, Seoul National University, Korea)
• Seunghwan Lee(Department of Agricultural Bio-Technology, Seoul National University, Korea)