DNA barcoding and Taxonomic account on some selected species of subfamily Plusiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from India

This study represents a detailed taxonomic account of 31 species of Plusiinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from India. The survey and collection of 39 localities from different regions of India between 2015 and 2018. The tribe Argyrogrammatini Eichlin & Cunningham, 1978 with Ctenoplusia Dufey, 1970 was the most species rich genera with seven species, followed by Thysanoplusia Ichinose, 1973 and Chrysodeixis Hubner, 1821 with four and three species respectively. Among 31 species, 15 species are commonly found in Himalayan regions and while other species were distributed from subtropical to tropical region. Five species, T. orichalcea (Fabricius, 1775), Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Doubleday, 1843), C. acuta (Walker, 1858), C. chalcites (Esper, 1789), Trichoplusia ni (Hubner, 1803) are widespread throughout India and reported as serious crop pests. Present study also revealed range expansion of four species viz., Dactyloplusia impulsa (Walker, 1865), Ctenoplusia mutans (Walker, 1865), Ctenoplusia tarassota (Hampson, 1913) and Zonoplusia ochreata (Walker, 1865). Systematic accounts of all 31 species are discussed here with adult images, species diagnostic characters, collection localities, detailed distributions and reported larval host plants. In addition to morphological studies, for the first time, a preliminary barcode library for 25 species of Indian Plusiinae with average intra-specific distance (%), maximum intraspecific distance (%) and distance to nearest neighbor (%) for individual species is provided. Among 25 species, four species barcode data (Ctenoplusia mutans, C. kosemponesis, Plusiopalpa adrasta, Sclerogenia jessica) are novel to world and 18 species barcode sequences were novel to India.