Introduction

The genus Eremopola Warren, 1911 is a western Palaearctic eremic group comprising two subgenera, Eremopola and Eremochlaena Boursin, 1953 ( Ronkay et al. 2001). Both subgenera include two species and are represented in Europe by a single species, Eremopola (Eremopola) lenis (Staudinger, 1892) and Eremopola (Eremochlaena) orana (H. Lucas, 1894). In the past, other taxa have been associated with Eremopola, however, they are actually placed into other genera of the subfamily Noctuinae.

Eremopola (Eremopola) lenis is known to occur in the African Mediterranean from the Atlas region in the Maghreb area to Libya, in the Near East and the Iberian Peninsula. It is polymorphic, the local populations are easily separable from each other by their external appearance while their genitalia show no mentionable distinctive features, therefore they are interpreted as different geographic races, The nominotypical subspecies lenis (Staudinger, 1892) is known only from Israel ( Ronkay et al. 2001); the subspecies magnifica (Rothschild, 1914) is known from the western parts of Mediterranean Africa (the Atlas region in Morocco and Algeria); the subspecies marmarides was described from Libya by Turati (1924) while the subspecies radoti (Boursin, 1928) has been recorded from Spain, where it is locally frequent.

The early stages have not yet been described but it is presumed that the larval host plants include herbaceous plants. The species is univoltine and the adults are on the wing from September to mid-November ( Ronkay et al. 2001).

Both the genus Eremopola and the species lenis are new to the Lepidopterofauna of the Maltese Islands. We propose the Maltese name “Harira fina”, after the transliteration of the Latin word “lenis”.

In the latest check-list of Maltese Lepidoptera ( Sammut, 2020), the genus Eremopola Warren, 1911, should be placed after the genus Episema Ochsenheimer, 1816 and before the genus Agrochola Hübner, [1821].

Material examined: M alta, 1 ♂ Żebbug, 5-XI-2021, at light, leg. A. Catania.

Discussion: The presence of Eremopola lenis magnifica (Rothschild, 1914) in the Maltese archipelago is very interesting and may be attributed to the southerly winds blowing from the direction of North Africa. Between November 5 and 11, over the Maltese Islands we experienced warm and fairly strong South and South-easterly winds of variable force between 28 and 35km/hr. Besides Eremopola lenis magnifica, other rare Noctuidae, such as Agrotis haifae Staudinger, 1897, Agrotis herzogi Rebel, 1911, Agrotis catalaunensis (Millière, 1873), Cerocala algiriae Oberthür, 1876 and Agrotis lasserrei (Oberthür, 1881), which normally reach Malta by migration during this period, were recorded in a rather unusually large numbers from Rabat, Żebbuġ, Naxxar, Pembroke and Żurrieq. Agrotis trux (Hübner, [1824]), Autographa gamma (Linnaeus, 1758), Noctua pronuba (Linnaeus, 1758) and Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval, 1833), usually common species, were also recorded in unusually large numbers at light during this period. Whether these have reached the Maltese Islands by normal migration or wind assisted, cannot be established with certainty.

It is worth to note that the only specimen found in Malta differs externally from both subspecies radoti and subspecies magnifica. It is associated here with this latter subspecies due to its closest occurrence to Malta though it is far not impossible that the moth was driven with the southern wind from the coastal area of Libya to the island of Malta. The comparison of the Maltese specimen with the western Libyan populations will be desirable but authentic material from Tripolitania was actually not available.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thanks, Dr L. Ronkay and Dr G. Ronkay of the Hungarian Natural History Museum for their great help in the confirmation of the identity of the species and for sending us images of specimens of Eremopola lenis subspecies for comparison. We would also like to thank Dr A. Vives for the Spanish translation.

References

Calle, J. A. (1982). Noctuidos Espanoles. Boletín del Servicio contra Plagas e Inspección Filopatológica. Fuera de Serie, nº 1. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.

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

Ronkay, L., Yela, J. L., & Hreblay, M. (2001). Hadeninae II. Noctuidae Europaeae (Vol. 5). Entomological Press.

Author notes

*Autor para la correspondencia / Corresponding author