Paul Sammut

Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797) is recorded from the Maltese Islands for the first time.

The genus Opogona Zeller, 1853 and the species Opogona sacchari (Bojer, 1856) are recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands.

The genus Hyphantria Harris, 1841 and the species Hyphantria cunea (Drury, 1773) are recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands. Notes on the distribution, habits of the adult and larval host plant are included. A Maltese name is proposed for this new record.

This note records the occurrence of Hyles livornica (Esper, 1785), a regular visitor to the Mal�tese Islands where it has been recorded in all months except for January, August and December. In January of 2021, following an abnormally warm spell, a large off-season migration took place where large numbers were recorded.

The aim of this note is to correct the identity of a Hypsotropa species occurring on the Maltese Islands, from Hypsotropa semiluteella (Chrétien, 1922) to Peoria pectinellum (Chrétien, 1911). Hypsotropa semiluteella is probably a new synonym of Peoria pectinellum.

The genus Eremopola Warren, 1911 and Eremopola lenis magnifica (Rothschild 1914) are recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands.

The species Ephestia woodiella Richards & Thomson, 1932 is recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands.

The genus Pseudosophronia Corley, 2001 and the species Pseudosophronia exustellus (Zeller, 1847) are recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands. Notes on the distribution and habitat are included.

The genus Clavigestra Obraztsov, 1946 and the species Clavigesta gerti Larsen, 2010 are recorded for the first time from the Maltese Islands.

An annotated list of the lepidoptera in the Guido Lanfranco collection donated to the National Museum of Natural History, Mdina - Malta is included. Where relevant, comments on particular species or specimens are provided.

Because of its biodiversity richness and high endemicity, the Mediterranean basin is considered one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. During the Pleistocene this region encompassed several distinct glacial refugia which generated a mosaic-like structure of different subregions. This created strong genetic contrasts between them and produced bio...

Proterospastis orientalis (Petersen, 1959) is here reported for the first time from Malta, Greece and the whole of Europe. In the Maltese Islands, the genus Proterospastis is now represented by three species, P. merdella Zeller, 1852, the recently recorded P. autochthones Walsingham, 1907, and P orientalis Petersen, 1959.

Eilema marcida (Mann, 1859) is recorded for the fi rst time from Malta. Specimens belonging to this taxon were originally determined as Eilema pygmaeola Doubleday which does not belong to the lepi-dopterofauna of Malta. Some biological and faunistic data on E. marcida and Eilema caniola are provided. Information on all the three species of Maltese...

Acrobasis obliqua clusinella Zeller, 1848, Acrobasis centunculella (Mann, 1859), Psorosa dahliella (Treitschke, 1832), Psorosa mediterranella Amsel, 1953, Euzopherodes lutisignella (Mann, 1869), Delplanqueia inscriptella (Duponchel, 1836), Isauria dilucidella (Duponchel, 1836), Euchromius gozmanyi Bleszynski, 1961, Udea numeralis (Hübner, 1796), An...

Goniodoma limoniella (Stainton, 1884), Coleophora pyrrhulipennella Zeller, 1839 and Coleophora jefreniensis Toll, 1954 are here being recorded for the first time from the Maltese archipelago. The record of Coleophora jefreniensis Toll, 1954 from Malta is also a new record for Europe.

Nine species from the family Geometridae, Peribatodes umbraria (Hübner, [1809]), Isturgia pulinda, (Walker, 1860), Isturgia spodiaria (Lefèbvre, 1831), Idaea rainerii Hausmann, 1994, Idaea longaria (Herrich-Schäffer, 1852), Idaea dimidiata (Hufnagel, 1767), Eupithecia oxycedrata (Rambur, 1833), Eupithecia ultimaria Boisduval, 1840 and Eupithecia un...

Eteobalea dohrnii (Zeller, 1847) is here recorded for the first time in the Maltese Islands. Notes on the distribution, habitat of the adult and the food plant of the larva are included. Further records of Anatrachyntis badia (Hodges, 1962) are also included.

The presence of Cacyreus marshalli Butler, [1898] in Malta is confirmed.

TThe original description of Sciopetris melitensis Rebel, 1919 is based on a strongly damaged male collected in 1915 by Adolf Andres at the former Verdala Barracks, Bormla. The species was re-described by Amsel (1955) based on four badly damaged males collected at Gharghur in 1953. Since then only these specimens are known in the literature. After...

Recent records of Noctuoidea from Malta are given. Five noctuid species are recorded from Europe for the first time: Eublemma conistrota Hampson, 1910, Eublemma deserti Rothschild, 1909, Anumeta hilgerti (Rothschild 1909), Hadula deserticula (Hampson 1905), and Euxoa canariensis Rebel, 1902. New synonyms are stated: Leptosia velocissima f. tarda Tu...

Three Pyralidae species, Arenipses sabella (Hampson, 1901), Euclasta splendidalis (Herrich-Schäffer, 1848) and Herpetogramma aegrotalis (Zeller, 1852) have been recorded in error from Malta. These records are herein rec- tified and Pseudarenipses insularum Speidel & Schmitz, 1991, Euclasta varii (Popescu-Gorj & Constantinescu, 1973) and Herpetogram...

Capperia hellenica Adamczewski, 1951 is reported for the first time from the Maltese Islands. The genus Capperia Tutt, 1905 is also recorded here for the first time from the Maltese Islands. Distribution, habits of the adult and larval host plant are included. A Maltese name is proposed for this new record