Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a global public health issue that has spread widely to more than 20 countries in Asia and has extended its geographic range to the south Pacific region including Australia. JE has become the most important cause of viral encephalitis in the world. Japanese encephalitis viruses (JEV) are divided into five genotypes, based on the nucleotide sequence of the envelope (E) gene. The Muar strain, isolated from patient in Malaya in 1952, is the sole example of genotype V JEV. Here, the XZ0934 strain of JEV was isolated from Culex tritaeniorhynchus, collected in China. The complete nucleotide and amino acid sequence of XZ0934 strain have been determined. The nucleotide divergence ranged from 20.3% to 21.4% and amino acid divergence ranged from 8.4% to 10.0% when compared with the 62 known JEV isolates that belong to genotype I–IV. It reveals low similarity between XZ0934 and genotype I–IV JEVs. Phylogenetic analysis using both complete genome and structural gene nucleotide sequences demonstrates that XZ0934 belongs to genotype V. This, in turn, suggests that genotype V JEV is emerging in JEV endemic areas. Thus, increased surveillance and diagnosis of viral encephalitis caused by genotype V JEV is an issue of great concern to nations in which JEV is endemic.

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Some new discoveries of the family Epicopeiidae Swinhoe, 1892 from China are reported. A new species, Mimaporiaowadai Huang & Wang, sp. n. is described from W. Sichuan. Burmeia Minet, 2003 and Psychostrophiaendoi Inoue, 1992 are reported as new to China, with the female genitalia of the former described for the first time. The females of Psychostrophiaendoi Inoue, 1992 and Deuveiabanghaasi Hering, 1932 are reported for the first time. Adults and genitalia of all species aforementioned are illustrated.

The chestnut tiger butterfly, Parantica sita (Kollar) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae), occurs in Asia, along the Himalayas, and into the Malayan region. Previous studies found three types of mitogenomes with substantial genetic divergence in samples from China. To clarify the level of differentiation within P. sita, we investigated both molecular data and morphological features in 429 individuals from China. Upon examination, mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences showed three substantially diverged haplotype groups. Based on microsatellite genotypes, the samples divided into three clusters that were consistent with the COI haplotype groups. With that genetic data, we named three distinguishable P. sita lineages: PS-A, PS-B, and PS-C. We also found obvious morphological differences in wing color, male sex brand, and genitalia structures among the three lineages. According to the published structure of male genitalia, that of PS-A is identical to that of P. s. sita, and that of PS-B is identical to that of P. pedonga. Based on all the results, we tentatively propose dividing P. sita into three species: PS-A (the former P. s. sita) is the typical Parantica sita [Kollar, (1844)], mainly distributed in southwestern China; PS-C (the former P. s. niphonica) is elevated to full species as Parantica niphonica (Moore, 1883), distributed in Taiwan Island and Japan; and PS-B will be Parantica pedongaFujioka, 1970, mainly distributed in Tibet and western Sichuan. Divergence time estimates showed that PS-A separated from the PS-B + PS-C clade about 8.79 million years ago (Ma), when the Hengduan Mountains underwent an appreciable elevation increase, isolating the Tibet population from the others. PS-B and PS-C diverged about 4.87 Ma, in accord with the formation of Taiwan Island mountains. The founder effect may explain why PS-C’s genetic diversity is lower than that of the other clades.