• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 2005

We investigated the species richness of macrolepidoptera (including pyralid moths) in the evergreen broad-leaved forests of southwestern coast of Korea. The studied site was Mt. Duryunsan and its neighboring area, Haenam-gun, Jollanam-do and moths were identified and analyzed after collecting them with UV light traps from 2001 to 2004. A total number of species comprised 18 families and 489 species. We expected that the number of species would be increased when the species of microlepidoptera and butterflies were included. The family Noctuidae with 181 species was dominant in the area followed by Geometridae with 129 species and Pyralidae with 72 species. Based on number of collected individuals, Geometridae was the highest and followed by Noctuidae, Pyralidae and Drepanidae. Fifty-one percent of the total species consisted of less than two specimens in the collected sample. Monthly changes of numbers of species and individuals were examined and indices of Simpson's heterogeneity and evenness were also drawn. We briefly discussed the possibility of moth species or group of species as bioindicator for assessing the condition of forest after disturbance.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.347-363
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• 2009

The 15,389-bp long complete mitogenome of the endangered red-spotted apollo butterfly, Parnassius bremeri (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) was determined in this study. The start codon for the COI gene in insects has been extensively discussed, and has long remained a matter of some controversy. Herein, we propose that the CGA (arginine) sequence functions as the start codon for the COI gene in lepidopteran insects, on the basis of complete mitogenome sequences of lepidopteran insects, including P. bremeri, as well as additional sequences of the COI start region from a diverse taxonomic range of lepidopteran species (a total of 53 species from 15 families). In our extensive search for a tRNA-like structure in the A+T-rich region, one $tRNA^{Trp}$-like sequence and one $tRNA^{Leu}(UUR)$-like sequence were detected in the P. bremeri A+T-rich region, and one or more tRNA-like structures were detected in the A+T-rich region of the majority of other sequenced lepidopteran insects, thereby indicating that such features occur frequently in the lepidopteran mitogenomes. Phylogenetic analysis using the concatenated 13 amino acid sequences and nucleotide sequences of PCGs of the four macrolepidopteran superfamilies together with the Tortricoidea and Pyraloidea resulted in the successful recovery of a monophyly of Papilionoidea and a monophyly of Bombycoidea. However, the Geometroidea were unexpectedly identified as a sister group of the Bombycoidea, rather than the Papilionoidea.