There is still a lot to be done regarding the inventory of Lepidoptera species from Portugal: species to be found, species to be named and described for the first time, and, sometimes, it is also needed to clarify the status of species previously described. Cochylimorpha punctiferana is one of those cases, the species was described in 1881 from a single specimen from Bragança in north-east Portugal, collected by Manuel d’Oliveira. It has since 1913 been considered a synonym of C. discopunctana. In 2016 and 2017, 4 specimens were collected in eastern Portugal and DNA barcodes were obtained from the male and one female. The results were recently compared with a DNA barcode of C. discopunctana (from Russia) and shows above 8.5% divergence. Together with differences in the female genitalia this is convincing evidence that C. punctiferana is a valid species clearly different from C. discopunctana.
In the new publication Cochylimorpha punctiferana (Ragonot, 1881) is reinstated as a good species. More research will be needed to understand if it only occurs in Portugal.
The DNA barcoding of these specimens was conducted within the InBIO Barcoding Initiative (IBI) at CIBIO - Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources., funded by EnvMetaGen and PORBIOTA projects.