Thitarodes is a genus of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

s of the family Hepialidae

Hepialidae

The Hepialidae is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths.-Taxonomy and systematics:...

. There are 48 described species found in eastern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. The majority are restricted to the Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...

. Caterpillars of this genus are the hosts to the parasitic fungus Cordyceps sinensis, which is highly prized by practitioners of Chinese medicine and traditional herbal Folk medicines where it is known as Yarchagumba or the Vegetable caterpillar

Vegetable caterpillar

There are over 680 documented species of the sac fungus genus Ophiocordyceps, and one of the best known of these is Ophiocordyceps sinensis, colloquially known as caterpillar fungus...

.

Species

• Thitarodes albipictus - China
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
   (Yunnan
  Yunnan
  Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
  
  )
• Thitarodes anomopterus - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes arizanus - Taiwan
  Taiwan
  Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
  
  
• Thitarodes armoricanus - China (Tibet Autonomous Region
  Tibet Autonomous Region
  The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
  
  )
• Thitarodes baimaensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes baqingensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes callinivalis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes cingulatus - China (Gansu
  Gansu
  ' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
  
  )
• Thitarodes damxungensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes danieli - Nepal
  Nepal
  Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
  
  
• Thitarodes dierli - Nepal
• Thitarodes dongyuensis - China
• Thitarodes eberti - Nepal
• Thitarodes ferrugineus - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes gonggaensis - China (Sichuan
  Sichuan
  ' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
  
  )
• Thitarodes jialangensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes jianchuanensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes jinshanensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes kangdingensis - China (Sichuan)
• Thitarodes kangdingroides - China (Kangding
  Kangding
  Kangding or Dardo is the name of a county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province, China. It is administrated at the city of Kangding...
  
   area, Sichuan)
• Thitarodes lijiangensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes litangensis - China (Sichuan)
• Thitarodes luquensis - China (Gansu)
• Thitarodes malaisei - Myanmar
  Myanmar
  Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
  
  
• Thitarodes markamensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes meiliensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes menyuanicus - China (Qinghai
  Qinghai
  Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
  
  )
• Thitarodes nebulosus - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes nipponensis - Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
  
  
• Thitarodes oblifurcus - China (Qinghai)
• Thitarodes pratensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes renzhiensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes richthofeni - China
• Thitarodes sichuanus - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes sinarabesca - China
• Thitarodes varians - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes variabilis - Far east of Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
  
• Thitarodes varius - Far east of Russia
• Thitarodes xiangensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes xunhuaensis - China (Qinghai)
• Thitarodes yeriensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes yulongensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes yunglongensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes yunnanensis - China (Yunnan)
• Thitarodes zaliensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes zhangmoensis - China (Xinjiang
  Xinjiang
  Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
  
  )
• Thitarodes zhayuensis - China (Tibet AR)
• Thitarodes zhongzhiensis - China (Yunnan)