Kentrochrysalis streckeri Staudinger, 1880 is distributed in Russia, Mongolia, China, and North Korea, whereas K. consimilis Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 has been known to occur South Korea and Japan. In the present study we found that the specimens from South Korea were K. streckeri, rather than K. consimilis based on morphology, DNA barcode, and nuclear elongation factor 1 alpha (EF-1α) sequences. The major morphological differences between K. streckeri and K. consimilis include the shape of wing pattern elements of fore- and hindwings and male and female genitalia. A DNA barcode analysis of the South Korean specimens and K. streckeri originated from Russia showed a maximum sequence divergence of only 0.659% (four bp), whereas the barcoding sequence of K. consimilis sequenced in this study and GenBank-registered sequence (JN678086), both of which originated from Japan showed the minimum sequence divergence of 2.965% (18 bp), indicating that the Korean specimens are, in fact, K. streckeri, instead of wrongly known K. consimilis. Phylogenetic analyses both by Bayesian Inference and maximum likelihood methods well supported the monophyly of South Korean specimens and Russian K. streckeri, excluding K. consimilis. The EF-1α-based sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the two species also supported the data from DNA barcode, indicating distribution of K. streckeri in South Korea, instead of K. consimilis.

• Min Jee Kim(Department of Applied Biology, Chonnam NationalUniversity)
• Sung-Soo Kim(Research Institute for East Asian Environment and Biology)
• Sei-Woong Choi(Department of Environmental Education, Mokpo National University)
• Youngho Cho(Department of Agricultural Biology, Kyungpook National University)
• Iksoo Kim(Department of Applied Biology, Chonnam NationalUniversity)