Two new mainland sister species for the Taiwanese Bharetta owadai (Lepidoptera, Lasiocampidae, Lasiocampinae, Argudini)

Bharetta owadai Kishida, 1986, was considered a widespread Indomalayan species occurring in Taiwan (type-locality), mainland China and Vietnam. Study of the genitalia of adults and barcoding showed that the taxon is a group of sister species. Allopatric Taiwanese and mainland populations have a slight difference in male genitalia and a distinct genetic distance of 3.26–4.56 %, which allowed description of the mainland population as a new species, Bharetta sarah sp. nov. known from Guanxi (type-locality) and Jianxi Provinces in China, and northern Vietnam.

The second new species, Bharetta hanne sp. nov., has distinct male genitalia and is found on Fansipan Mountain (type-locality) and a nearby mountain ridge. Adults, their genitalia, distribution map, and phylogenetic tree are illustrated.