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Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) new to the Maltese Islands (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae)

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Jonathan Agius
Jonathan Agius
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Abstract

Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) is reported for the first time from the Maltese Islands. The genus Lantanophaga Zimmerman, 1958 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.
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259
Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864)
new to the Maltese Islands
(Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae)
J. Agius
Abstract
Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) is reported for the first time from the Maltese Islands. The genus
Lantanophaga Zimmerman, 1958 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.
KEY WORDS: Lepidoptera, Pterophoridae, Lantanophaga pusillidactylus, Malta.
Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) nueva para Malta
(Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae)
Resumen
Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) se cita por primera vez para Malta. El género Lantanophaga
Zimmerman, 1958 se cita también por primera vez para Malta. Se incluyen datos sobre su distribución, hábitat del
adulto y la planta nutricia de la larva. Se propone un nombre maltés para esta nueva cita.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Lepidoptera, Pterophoridae, Lantanophaga pusillidactylus, Malta.
Introduction
In the family Pterophoridae, over a thousand species have been described worldwide with over
half of these occurring within the Palaearctic region (HEPPNER, 1991). In Europe this family is
represented by two subfamilies, Agdistinae with one genus and 23 species, and Pterophorinae with 31
genera and 115 species. Two other subfamilies, Ochyroticinae and Deuterocopinae occur within the
tropics and have no European representatives (GIELIS, 1996).
In the Maltese Islands, a total of 24 Pterophoridae have been recorded, seven in the Agdistinae
and 17 in the Pterophorinae (SAMMUT, 2000) with Capperia hellenica being the latest addition to the
Pterophoridae species of the Maltese Islands (SAMMUT, 2004). In the Agdistinae, two species, namely
Agdistis melitensis Amsel, 1954 and Agdistis symmetrica Amsel, 1955 have been originally described
as endemic to the Maltese Islands (AMSEL, 1954, 1955). Agdistis melitensis has been found also on
Corsica while Agdistis symmetrica is known also from Tunisia (GIELIS, 1996).
The genus Lantanophaga Zimmerman, 1958 was originally found in the tropical and subtropical
regions and contains 4 species, with only L. pusillidactylus found in Europe so far (GIELIS, 1996).
Material
MALTA: 1 exp., Marsaxlokk, 14-VIII-2016, leg. J. Agius; 1 exp., Marsaxlokk 21-VIII-2016, leg.
SHILAP Revta. lepid., 45 (178) junio 2017: 259-261 eISSN: 2340-4078 ISSN: 0300-5267
J. Agius; 1 exp., Marsaxlokk, 26-VIII-2016, leg. J. Agius. All three specimens were found during the
day resting on a wall in very close proximity to Lantana camara.
J. AGIUS
260 SHILAP Revta. lepid., 45 (178) junio 2017
Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864) - MALTA, Marsaxlokk 14-VIII-2016.
10 mm 10 mm
The species is naturally found throughout Mexico and the Caribbean. In Europe and the
Mediterranean area, until 1996 L. pusillidactylus was only known from Morocco, Madeira and the
Canary Islands however, through some Spanish records, in 1997 it was recorded for the first time from
mainland Europe (KING, 2000). A few years later, the species was recorded from mainland Italy
(BELLA & MARCHESE, 2007), from Sicily (D’URSO et al., 2008) and from Portugal (CORLEY et
al., 2008). Most probably L. pusillidactylus was introduced in various countries with the importation of
Lantana plants. The larvae are known to feed on various Lantana species, but its main food plant is
Lantana camara. They feed inside flowers or tunnel around the base of the flower for seven to ten days
and pupate in the flower clusters. The development time from egg to adult is about fourteen days. In
fact, all three records of Lantanophaga pusillidactylus were found in close proximity to Lantana
camara. According to GIELIS (1996) the adults are on the wing in July and again between September
and December. The Maltese records consolidate the flight period to the last 6 months of the year, so
possibly L. pusillidactylus has multiple broods during the year.
Considering that three specimens were found over a 12 day, period and within a few metres from
the food plant, it can easily be assumed that the L. pusillidactylus is breeding in the Maltese Islands.
Lantana camara is a common ornamental plant in Malta so it should not be difficult for L.
pusillidactylus to spread all over Malta.
Both genus and species are new to the Maltese lepidopterofauna. I propose the Maltese name
‘Pjuma Zghira tal-Lantana’ after a transliteration of the scientific name.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Dr. Cees Gielis from the Netherlands for the confirmation of the species
and to Dr. Antonio Vives for the Spanish abstract.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BELLA, S. & MARCHESE, G., 2007.– Prima segnalazione di Lantanophaga pusillidactylus per la fauna italiana
(Lepidoptera Pterophoridae).– Bollettino di Zoologia Agraria e di Bachicoltura Ser. II, 39: 71-74.
CORLEY, M. F. V., MARABUTO, E., MARAVALHAS, E., PIRES, P. & CARDOSO, J. P., 2008.– New and
interesting Portuguese Lepidoptera records from 2008 (Insecta: Lepidoptera).– SHILAP Revista de
lepidopterología, 37(148): 463-484.
D’URSO, V., MARCHESE, G. & NEL, J., 2008.– A survey of Pterophoridae (Lepidoptera) of North-Eastern Sicily
with new distributional records.– Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae, 48(1): 197-208.
GIELIS, C., 1996.– Pterophoridae. In P. HUEMER, O. KARSHOLT & L. LYNEBORG (eds). Microlepidoptera of
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KING, G. E., 2000.– Aportación al conocimiento de los Pterophoridae en España: Lantanophaga pusillidactyla
(Walker, 1864), especie nueva para España y para Europa (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae).– SHILAP Revista de
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SAMMUT, P., 2000.– Kullana Kulturali. 12.– Il-Lepidoptera: X + 246 pp. Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, Malta.
SAMMUT, P., 2004.– Capperia hellenica Adamczewski, 1951, new to the Maltese Islands (Lepidoptera:
Pterophoridae).– SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología, 32(127): 195-197.
J. A.
166 ‘Infinity’
Vjal ix-Xarolla
MT-Zurrieq, ZRQ1617
MALTA / MALTA
E-mail: jonagius@msn.com
(Recibido para publicación / Received for publication 3-IX-2016)
(Revisado y aceptado / Revised and accepted 20-XI-2016)
(Publicado / Published 30-VI-2017)
LANTANOPHAGA PUSILLIDACTYLUS (WALKER, 1864) NEW TO THE MALTESE ISLANDS
SHILAP Revta. lepid., 45 (178) junio 2017 261
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... From Hawaii, it was introduced to Pohnpei in 1948 and from there to Palau in 1960. Since then, it has fortuitously established in several Micronesian Islands (Denton et al., 1991;Muniappan, 1988;1989;Muniappan and Reddy, 2003 (Agius, 2017;Day et al., 2003;Day and Zalucki, 2009;De Prins and de Prins, 2017); Ramachandra Rao, 1920). This moth is one of the few lantana agents that can tolerate wide climatic conditions (Day et al., 2003). ...
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... According to Gielis (1996), the adults are on the wing in July and again between September and December. According to Agius (2017), the Maltese records consolidate the flight period to the last 6 months of the year, possibly L. pusillidactylus has multiple generations during the year. Distribution. ...
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... Lantanophaga pusillidactylus was first reported for the Mediterranean from Morocco (Amsel 1951). Since then, it has been recorded for the European continent from Spain (King 2000), Sicily (Bella and Marchese 2007), Portugal (Corley et al. 2009, Bella 2013, and Malta (Agius 2017 The species' strong association and dependence on its host plants suggest the possible expansion of its distribution to areas where its main host plant can be found. L. pusillidactylus is expected to be found in more Mediterranean countries in the near future. ...
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