Contribution to the identities and distribution patterns of Zygaenidae (Lepidoptera) from Romania

Valeriu Albu,Ana Nahirnić-Beshkova

doi:10.48027/hnb.42.051

Abstract

Zygaenid material collected from 25 localities in ten counties of Romania during 1967-2002 was examined. Fifteen species were found, of which Jordanita notata appears to reliably represent the only second population of the species in Romania, while the record of J. budensis seems to be the fifth locality for the country. We discuss several misidentifications of species published in previous publications and list their precise collection places and dates.

Highlights

Zygaenidae are a striking group of moths, whose vivid coloration, mostly diurnal habits and sometimes large population size make them very conspicuous and recognisable in the field
Z. loti and Z. filipendulae were encountered at ten localities each, while Z. purpuralis at eight localities
The authors cast doubts in their notes about the correct identities of several of the listed species, especially the ones from the older collections, which have not been dissected. Of those 29 species three should not be considered as members of the Romanian fauna: Jordanita tenuicornis (Zeller, 1847), Zygaena cynarae (Esper, 1789) and Z. trifolii (Esper, 1783)

Summary

Introduction

Zygaenidae are a striking group of moths, whose vivid coloration, mostly diurnal habits and sometimes large population size make them very conspicuous and recognisable in the field. The complete opposite can be said when it comes to differentiating the various species, especially of subfamily Procridinae (the forester moths) Their similarity among adults has led to various confusions in different geographical distribution lists and has prompted the exclusive reliance on genital structures as specific diagnostic criteria. Such a confusion arose from two recently published papers listing forester moths and Zygaena purpuralis (Brünnich, 1763) from Southern Transylvania, Romania (Albu & Albu, 2018) and from the Vlăsia Plain, Muntenia, Romania (Albu & Albu, 2020), based on identifications made using superficial characters. N.-B., dissected the specimens discussed in the above papers and pointed out several inexactitudes Those data on Procridinae should be ignored as we provide here an updated list with the corrected identities of Zygaenidae in the first author's (V.A.) collection. Hereby, expand the distributional list of Romanian Zygaenidae with a series of previously unpublished data

Material and methods

Results

Discussion