A survey of Pterophoridae (Lepidoptera) of North-Eastern Sicily with new distributional records
Author
Urso
Author
Marchese, Giovanni
Department of Animal Biology “ Marcello La Greca ”, University of Catania, Via Androne 81, 95124 Catania, Italy; e-mail: dursove @ unict. it
Author
Nel, Jacques
8 Avenue Fernard Gassion, F- 13600 La Ciotat, France
text
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae
2008
2008-08-15
48
1
197
208
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5342507
0374-1036
5342507
Stenoptilia grisescens
Schawerda, 1933
(
Figs. 8-9
)
Material examined.
DISTRICT OF
MT
.
ETNA
:
Mount
S.
Leo
(
Belpasso
),
1,000 m
a.s.l.
, VB9687,
15.vi.2005
,
1 ♀
;
21.vi.2004
,
1 ♀
;
23.vi.2004
, 2 JJ;
22.vii.2004
, 3 JJ
2 ♀♀
;
27.vii.2005
, 1 J;
17.viii.2004
, 1 J
1 ♀
;
Piano delle Ginestre
(
Bronte
),
1,000 m
a.s.l.
, VB8787,
8.ix.2005
,
1 ♀
;
Rifugio Galvarina
(
Biancavilla
),
1,878 m
a.s.l.
, VB9766,
28.vi.2004
,
1 ♀
;
19.vii.2004
,
1 ♀
. DISTRICT OF PELORITANI MTS.:
Mouth
of the
Stream Agrò
(
S. Alessio Siculo
),
1 m
a.s.l.
,
WB3918
,
2.viii.2004
,
1 ♀
. DISTRICT OF NEBRODI MTS.:
Stream Pellera
(
Roccella Valdemone
),
740 m
a.s.l.
, WC0010,
17.vii.2004
, 1 J
;
6.viii.2004
,
1 ♀
(
GMCI
)
.
Biology.
Adults: wingspan
16-20 mm
. Adults fly from July to September; in north-eastern
Sicily
we observed adults from June to September. It flies among grass at dusk; our specimens were captured at light during the night. Larval host plant: probably monophagous on
Misopates orontium
(L.) Rafin. (
Scrophulariaceae
).
Range in
Italy
.
Piedmont
,
Latium
;
Sardinia
;
Sicily
(new record)
.
Distribution.
Mediterranean-Macaronesian.
Remark
. In the Italian checklist (
ARENBERGER et al. 1995
),
S. grisescens
is indicated as a synonym of
S. arida
(
Zeller, 1847
)
(
type
locality: Messina); the latter species is widespread in the entire peninsula and on the islands.
BIGOT & PICARD (2002)
considered
S. grisescens
as a valid species and gave a key to identify the species belonging to the
grisescens
group (
S. grisescens
,
S. mariaeluisae
Bigot & Picard, 2002
,
S. inopinata
Bigot & Picard, 2002
, and
S. gallobritannidactyla
Gibeaux, 1985
); the key is based on the characters of the male uncus and the ostium bursae and post-vaginal lamella of females. However,
GIELIS (2003)
still indicated
S. grisescens
as a synonym of
S. arida
.
ARENBERGER (2005)
agreed with
BIGOT & PICARD (2002)
in considering
S. grisescens
a valid species, and confirmed its presence in
Italy
in
Piedmont
,
Latium
, and
Sardinia
.
TREMATERRA et al. (2006)
reported
S. grisescens
from
Molise
and considered it by mistake as a new record for
Italy
.
ARENBERGER (2005)
confirmed the presence of
S. arida
in
Latium
,
Liguria
and
Sicily
. However, most of the records of
S. arida
from
Italy
should be verified. Our data demonstrate the presence of
S. grisescens
in
Sicily
; the characters of the genitalia for both males and females are as described by
NEL (2003)
and
ARENBERGER (2005)
.