Stemmatophora combustalis (Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1842) new to the Maltese Islands (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Stemmatophora combustalis (Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1842) nueva para Malta (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Introduction

The superfamily Pyraloidea is composed of about 16,000 described species worldwide (HEPPNER, 1991) with 914 species recorded from Europe (NUSS et al., 2004). On the Maltese Islands around 141 Pyraloidea species have been recorded so far with the latest addition being Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) (AGIUS, 2018).

The genus Stemmatophora Guenée, 1854 which is distributed in Europe, Africa and the Middle East is very often synonymised with the genus Actenia Guenée, 1854 and the genus Scotomerodes Ragonot, 1895. In SLAMKA (2006), all the three genera have been used however for the purpose of this paper, the genus Stematophora Guenée, 1854 has been selected based on the website (https://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Pyralidae_Europa). Altogether there are 10 species in the genus Stemmatophora Guenée, 1854 in Europe and only Stemmatophora brunnealis(Treitschke, 1829) has so far been recorded for the Maltese Islands (SAMMUT, 2000). Normally Stemmatophora species are characterised by bipectinate or ciliate antennae of the male and filiform antennae of the female.

Material

MALTA, 1 ♂, Fomm ir-Rih, 20-VI-2019, leg. J. Formosa.

Discussion

Stemmatophora combustalis (Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1842) is distributed in South Europe from Portugal, South of France to Turkey including the neighbouring island of Sicily. The species inhabits dry open habitats. The larvae are detritophagus, that is they feed on dead or wilted leaves and flowers in silken tubes of Helianthemum sp., Thymus sp. and Genista scorpius (L.) DC (SLAMKA, 2006). In Malta, Thymus capitata (L.) Hoffmanns. & Link is a common species found in rocky places and garigue whilst Helianthemum thymifolium (L.) Webb and Helianthemum arabica (L.) Spach are frequent species found in garigue and rocky sites as well (WEBER, 2006). However so far there is no evidence that Stemmatophora combustalis(Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1842) is breeding in the Maltese Islands.

The species is new to the Maltese lepidopterofauna. The authors propose the Maltese name Stemmatofora mahruqa, after a transliteration of the scientific name.

Fig.1.
Stemmatophora combustalis (Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1842)

Agradecimientos

The authors are grateful to Dr. Antonio Vives for the Spanish abstract.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AGIUS, J., 2018.– Pest species Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) new to the Maltese Islands (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).– SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología, 46(184): 577-579.

HEPPNER, J. B., 1991.– Faunal regions and diversity of Lepidoptera.– Tropical Lepidoptera, 2 (supplement 1): 185.

NUSS, M., SEGERER, A. & SPEIDEL, W., 2004.– Crambidae, Pyralidae, Thyrididae.– In O. KARSHOLT & E. J. VAN NIEUKURKEN. Fauna Europaea: Lepidoptera, Moths. Fauna Europaea version 1.1. Available from http://www.faunaeur.org.

RENNWALD, E., 2018. – Pyralidae of Europe. Available from https://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Pyralidae_Europa (accessed 08 th November 2019).

SAMMUT, P., 2000.– Kullana Kulturali. 12 - Il-Lepidoptera: X + 246 pp. Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, Malta.

SLAMKA, F., 2006.– Pyraloideaof Europe, 1: 138 pp. Frantisek Slamka, Bratislava.

WEBER, H. C., 2006.– Flora of the Maltese Islands: 383 pp. Margraf Publishers.

Author notes

*Autor para la correspondencia / Corresponding author jonagius@msn.com