Abstract: 【Aim】 The study aims to determine the morphological characteristics and life history of three lepidopteran pest species damaging Elaeagnus mollis in Shanxi Province, North China, and to provide rapid and accurate identification of the three species based on DNA barcodes of mtDNA COI gene. 【Methods】 The external morphology of three lepidopteran pest species on E. mollis in Shanxi was observed, and the internal structures of female and male genitalia were illustrated. The DNA barcode sequences of COI gene were obtained through PCR amplification and compared against reference sequences in GenBank database and used to generate neighbor-joining (NJ) tree. Based on the DNA barcode sequences of COI gene in combination with morphological identification results, the three lepidopteran pests were identified. 【Results】 The results of morphological identification showed that the three lepidopteran pests damaging E. mollis are Synanthedon ulmicola, Synanthedon sp., and Apotomis sp.. The external morphology and female and male genitalia were described and illustrated. DNA barcode analysis showed that the COI gene sequences of S. ulmicola and Synanthedon sequoia in GenBank database show 90.7% nucleotide sequence identity, those of Synanthedon sp. and Synanthedon spheciformis in GenBank database show 90.0% nucleotide sequence identity, and those of Apotomis sp. and Apotomis capreana in GenBank database show 92.7% nucleotide sequence identity. NJ tree analysis showed that the three species formed distinct monophyletic branches, consistent with the results of morphological identification. 【Conclusion】 In this study, three species of lepidopteran pests of E. mollis, S. ulmicola, Synanthedon sp. and Apotomis sp., were determined by using a combined morphological and DNA barcoding approach for species identification. Morphological characteristics and life history of the three species were provided. Our findings will be helpful for pest management of the important economic tree species E. mollis.

Key words: Synanthedon ulmicola, Synanthedon sp., Apotomis sp., morphological characteristics, molecular identification, life history