Introduction

The taxon E. woodiella Richards & Thomson, 1932, at one time was considered a subspecies of Ephestia unicolorella Staudinger, 1881 ( Roesler, 1973). Gumhalter (2019), following Fauna Europaea, considered Ephestia woodiella Richards & Thomson 1932, as a subspecies of Ephestia unicolorella Staudinger, 1881.

Leraut (2014) established that E. unicolorella is distinct both from E. parasitella and from E. woodiella. According to Leraut (2014), E. unicolorella is known from Morocco, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, but not from Europe.

According to Sammut (2020), Roesler (1973) included Malta in the distribution of the species E. parasitella unicolorella. Karsholt & Razowski (1996) in their checklist of European Lepidoptera listed Malta in the distribution of E. parasitella parasitella Staudinger, 1859. Recently, Gumhalter (2019) included Malta in the distribution of E. unicolorella woodiella ( Richards & Thomson, 1932). This is incorrect.

From some “old” material sent to F. Slamka by one of the authors (PS) for identification, he identified a male Ephestia as belonging to the taxon E. woodiella. Independently, a second author (AS) had sent similar material to J. Asselbergs, amongst which two Ephestia specimens were determined by genitalia as belonging also to E. woodiella.

Ephestia woodiella is a widespread European species, occurring also in countries along the Mediterranean and the larger islands within it. The larvae are said to feed on dry vegetable matter. Unlike the other Ephestia species occurring in Malta, this does not appear to be a pest of stored grain and foods. The localities from where the three specimens have been recorded are open countryside, mostly garigue. All specimens have been recorded using 150w MV light.

Material examined

M alta: Siġġiewi, Għar Lapsi, 1 ♂, 23-IV-1999 [GP. Slamka 2157), P. Sammut leg; Qormi, Wied il-Kbir, 1 ♂, 21-IV-1999 [GP. Asselbergs 5800], Seguna leg; Dwejra, l/o Rabat, 1 ♀, 9-VI-2007 [GP. Asselbergs 5810], Seguna leg.

Ephestia woodiella Malta, Siġġiewi, Għar Lapsi, 23-IV-1999

Conclusion

Locally, the genus Ephestia Guenée, 1845, is represented by five species, namely Ephestia kuehniella Zeller, 1879, Ephestia welseriella (Zeller, 1848), Ephestia elutella (Hübner, 1796), Ephestia parasitella Staudinger, 1859 and the new Ephestia woodiella Richards & Thomson, 1932. We propose the Maltese vernacular name “Efestja ta’ Wood” for the new record E. woodiella.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank František Slamka of Bratislava, Slovakia, and Jan Asselbergs (†) of Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands, who both identified and prepared genitalia of Ephestia woodiella, and Dr Antonio Vives, Madrid, Spain for taking care of the Spanish text.

References

Gumhalter, D. (2019). A revised checklist of the Pyraloid moths (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) in Croatia. Natura Croatica, 28(2), 271-287.

Karsholt, O., & Razowski, J. (1996). The Lepidoptera of Europe - A Distributional Checklist. Apollo Books.

Leraut, P. (2014). Moths of Europe. Pyralids 2 (Vol. 4). N. A. P. Editions.

Sammut, P. (2020). Systematic and Synonymic list of the Lepidoptera of the Maltese Islands. Malta.

Richards, O. W., & Thomson, M. A. (1932). A contribution to the study of the genera Ephestia Gn. (including Strymax Dyar) and Plodia Gn. (Lepidoptera, Phycitidae) with notes on the parasites of the larvae. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 80(2), 169-247.

Roesler, U. (1973). Phycitinae. In H. G. Amsel, F. Gregor & H. Reisser (eds). Microlepidoptera Palaearctica (Vol. 4). Verlag Georg Fromme & Co.

Author notes

*Autor para la correspondencia / Corresponding author