This is a complex of species, and incomplete information on their separation has been published to
date, with Robinson et al. (1994) suggesting that there may be around 20 species in the genus, at
least 7 of which may occur in south-east Asia. Two new Conogethes species, formerly identified as
C. punctiferalis, have been identified to date (Inoue & Yamanaka, 2006), but the number of still
undescribed species that may be in the complex is unclear. Molecular work suggests that
Australian specimens identified as C. punctiferalis are dissimilar genetically from Japanese and
Chinese specimens by around 6%, indicating the possibility of two species (Armstrong, 2010).
However, Zhang et al. (2010) studied genetic differences in C. punctiferalis from 6 provinces in
China (from Beijing to Sichuan), and found they were very similar genetically: some specimens that
were geographically distant were more closely related than other specimens from the same
province, suggesting a high level of gene flow through interbreeding in the populations studied.
Since the number of species within the complex is unknown and their biology cannot be
distinguished, this assessment has been made on information on all putative species within the C.
punctiferalis species complex. An attempt has been made to separate southern and northern
populations in this rapid PRA, which have been assumed to have different levels of cold-adaptation
and thus differ in the risk posed to the UK.