A new species of Mataeomera, formerly misidentified as M. obliquisigna (Hampson, 1894) from Japan (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Boletobiinae).

Mataeomera Butler, 1886, currently referred to the tribe Eublemmini in Boletobiinae (Holloway 2011), was proposed by Butler (1886) to accommodate an Australian species, Mataeomera dubia Butler. This genus was once regarded as a junior synonym of Autoba Walker by Poole (1989) but resurrected by Edwards (1996). Another related genus, Catoblemma Hampson, 1910 originally proposed for Catoblemma sumbavensis Hampson, 1910 from Lesser Sunda was revised to include the Australian and East and Southeast Asian species. Edwards (1996) found the Australian species of Catoblemma and Mataeomera dubia congeneric and established the synonymy of those two genera. Following Edwards (1996), Yoshimoto (1999) transferred the Asian species of Catoblemma to Mataeomera. Mataeomera currently includes 21 species (Poole 1989; Edwards 1996; Holloway 2009). Following Holloway (2009), we note that Catoblemma appears to include several unrelated species and is probably polyphyletic. In fact, the Indo-Himalayan and East Asian species currently assigned to Mataeomera are distinct from the Australian congeners in external appearance and larval feeding habits (Sohn & Ronkay 2001; Holloway 2009). As such these may merit generic status but this possibility is still under study by the first author (JCS).