First records of six species of Lepidoptera from Kunashir Island (Russia)

This article presents the first records of six species of moths and butterflies from Kunashir Island. We report on the first records of Aemene obscura (Leech, 1889) from Russia (Kunashir Island), as well as Catocala dula Bremer, 1861, C. lara Bremer, 1861, C. dissimilis Bremer, 1861, Sphragifera sigillata (Menetries, 1859), and Argynnis sagana Doubleday, [1847] from Kunashir Island. Additionally, we provide commentary on distribution of Aberrasine aberrans (Butler, 1877)

Lepidoptera of South Ossetia (Northern Transcaucasia). Part II. Cossidae, Limacodidae, Erebidae (Lymantriinae, Arctiinae, Syntominae, Notodontinae), Lasiocampidae, Lemoniidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Drepanidae and Cimeliidae

In the third part of the publication, we present the faunal list of nine families of the Macrolepidoptera of South Ossetia, including 4 species of Cossidae, 2 species of Limacodidae, 40 species of Erebidae, 15 species of Sphingidae, 6 species of Lasiocampidae, 1 species of Saturniidae and Lemoniidae, 5 species of Drepanidae and 1 species of Cimeliidae. Fifty nine species are reported for South Ossetia for the first time

A nearly complete database on the records and ecology of the rarest boreal tiger moth from 1840s to 2020

Global environmental changes may cause dramatic insect declines but over century-long time series of certain species’ records are rarely available for scientific research. The Menetries’ Tiger Moth (Arctia menetriesii) appears to be the most enigmatic example among boreal insects. Although it occurs throughout the entire Eurasian taiga biome, it is so rare that less than 100 specimens were recorded since its original description in 1846. Here, we present the database, which contains nearly all available information on the species’ records collected from 1840s to 2020. The data on A. menetriesii records (N = 78) through geographic regions, environments, and different timeframes are compiled and unified. The database may serve as the basis for a wide array of future research such as the distribution modeling and predictions of range shifts under climate changes. It represents a unique example of a more than century-long dataset of distributional, ecological, and phenological data designed for an exceptionally rare but widespread boreal insect, which primarily occurs in hard-to-reach, uninhabited areas of Eurasia.Peer reviewe

Bioerosion of siliceous rocks driven by rock-boring freshwater insects

Macrobioerosion of mineral substrates in fresh water is a little-known geological process. Two examples of rock-boring bivalve molluscs were recently described from freshwater environments. To the best of our knowledge, rock-boring freshwater insects were previously unknown. Here, we report on the discovery of insect larvae boring into submerged siltstone (aleurolite) rocks in tropical Asia. These larvae belong to a new mayfly species and perform their borings using enlarged mandibles. Their traces represent a horizontally oriented, tunnel-like macroboring with two apertures. To date, only three rock-boring animals are known to occur in fresh water globally: a mayfly, a piddock, and a shipworm. All the three species originated within primarily wood-boring clades, indicating a simplified evolutionary shift from wood to hardground substrate based on a set of morphological and anatomical preadaptations evolved in wood borers (e.g., massive larval mandibular tusks in mayflies and specific body, shell, and muscle structure in bivalves)

Male of Danielithosia pyralina (Rothschild, 1912) comb. nov., an endemic moth species from Sumbawa and Flores (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae)

Spitsyn, Vitaly M. (2022): Male of Danielithosia pyralina (Rothschild, 1912) comb. nov., an endemic moth species from Sumbawa and Flores (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae). Zootaxa 5182 (4): 399-400, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5182.4.

New records of Lepidoptera from Kunashir Island (Russia)

<p>This article presents the first records of five species of moths and butterflies from Kunashir Island. We report on the first records of <i>Lampides boeticus</i> (Linnaeus, 1767), <i>Macroglossum saga</i> Butler, 1878, <i>Ampelophaga rubiginosa</i> Bremer & Grey, 1853, <i>Catocala electa</i> (Vieweg, 1790), and<i> C. praegnax</i> Walker, 1858 from Kunashir Island. Additionally, we provide commentary on the distribution of <i>Bombyx mandarina</i> (Moore, 1872), <i>Caligula japonica </i>Moore, 1862, <i>C. jonasii</i> (Butler, 1877), <i>Macroglossum stellatarum</i> (Linnaeus, 1758), <i>M. pyrrhosticta</i> Butler, 1875, <i>Agrius convolvuli</i> (Linnaeus, 1758), <i>Catocala dula </i>Bremer, 1861, <i>C. lara</i> Bremer, 1861,<i> C. dissimilis</i> Bremer, 1861, <i>C. deuteronympha</i> Staudinger, 1861, <i>C. nupta</i> (Linnaeus, 1767), <i>C. fraxini </i>(Linnaeus, 1758), <i>Lymantria mathura</i> (Moore, 1866), and <i>Orgyia thyellina</i> (Butler, 1881).</p&gt

Description of the female of Chelis ferghana Dubatolov, 1988, an endemic moth species of the Tien Shan Range in Central Asia (Lepidoptera: Erebidae Arctiinae)

Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Potapov, Grigory S. (2020): Description of the female of Chelis ferghana Dubatolov, 1988, an endemic moth species of the Tien Shan Range in Central Asia (Lepidoptera: Erebidae Arctiinae). Zootaxa 4790 (1): 198-200, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4790.1.1

Figure 2 in A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae)

Figure 2. Male genitalia of Amerila spp. from Flores Island, Indonesia. A-C A. rosenfeldae sp. nov.: A) male genitalia (holotype); B) aedeagus (holotype); C) female genitalia (paratype). D-E A. astreus: D) male genitalia; E) aedeagus. (Photos: Vitaly M. Spitsyn).Published as part of <i>Spitsyn, Vitaly M. & Bolotov, Ivan N., 2020, A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae), pp. 1-7 in Ecologica Montenegrina 33</i> on page 5, DOI: 10.37828/em.2020.33.1, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/8028445">http://zenodo.org/record/8028445</a&gt

A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae)

Spitsyn, Vitaly M., Bolotov, Ivan N. (2020): A review of the tiger moth genus Amerila Walker, 1855 from Flores Island, Indonesia, with a description of a new species (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae). Ecologica Montenegrina 33: 1-7, DOI: 10.37828/em.2020.33.

К фауне пальцекрылок (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) Лаоса

Eight Pterophoridae species are reported for the fauna of Laos for the first time: Ochyrotica yanoi Arenberger, 1988, Bipunctiphorus dissipata (Yano, 1963), Lantanophaga pusillidactylus (Walker, 1864), Nippoptilia regulae (Meyrick, 1906), Tomotilus celebrates (Meyrick, 1932), Megalorhipida leucodactylus (Fabricius, 1794), M. subtilis (Rebel, 1907), Agdistopis sinhala (Fletcher, 1909)