We carried out DNA barcoding of five Korean Lymantria species to establish identification references library for quarantine inspection. Total of 118 samples including 34 samples obtained through quarantine inspection, two from USDA, and one collected from Philiphine were used for this study. And 30 sequences of 10 species from GenBank of NCBI were used as reference sequences. In a result of DNA barcoding of the Korean Lymantria species, sequence divergence of 148 DNA barcodes ranged from null to 17.0%, intraspecific divergence from null to 1.0%, and interspecific divergence from 5.1 to 17.0%. In NJ tree, L. dispar contained three clusters, which were identified as L. dispar asiatica, L. albescens, and L. xylina, respectively. L. xylina was collected through quarantine inspection on a foreign merchant ship in Yeosu port, and L. albescens was obtained by pheromone trap on L. dispar installed in Busan port. And L. monacha known as single species in Korea was revealed as species complex with three species, L. monacha, L. minomonis, and L. sugii. In subspecies level, L. dispar dispar (EGM) built single cluster, but L. d. asiatica (AGM) and L. d. japonica showed as multiple cluster. Therefore, DNA barcoding lead to rapid and accurate identification in species level, but in subspecies level, only a taxon showing geographically far distance was discriminated from the others. And the results could provide a taxonomic outline of the Korean Lymantria fauna and might be used as identification reference for Lymantria species in quarantine inspection.

A taxonomic review on the Korean Lymantria Hübner, 1819 was conducted. In a result, a total of nine species under four subgenera including two new recorded species were detected as followings: L. dispar asiatica Vnukovskij, 1926, L. xylina Swinhoe, 1903, L. monacha (Linnaeus, 1758), L. minomonis Matsumura, 1933, L. sugii Kishida, 1986, L. lucescens (Butler, 1881), L. mathura Moore, 1865, L. fumida Butler, 1877, and L. bantaizana Matsumura, 1933. Of the two unrecorded species, L. minomonis was found only in Is. Bogildo of Jeollanam-do, the southern part of Korea, and the other one, L. sugii was collected in the middle part of Korea. On the two species, L. xylina and L. fumida, the Korean specimens could not be examined through this study. Therefore, we considered that the two species might be excluded from the Korean Lymantria fauna. Each species was identified on the basis of wing pattern and genitalia of male/female adult. We provided diagnosis, male/female adult habitus photos, male genitalia photos, and female ovipositor photos.