Nocturnal Lepidoptera Research Articles

Filling the gaps: surveys in extreme habitats within an underexplored territory rapidly increase the knowledge on the distribution of nocturnal Lepidoptera in South Italy

The availability of data regarding local and regional biodiversity inventories are gaining an increasing importance because of the lack of basic knowledge makes difficult to study ecological dynamics promoted by environmental and climatic changes. In this paper we demonstrate that to prioritize the exploration of extreme habitats within underexplored territories accelerate the filling of faunistic gaps. We investigated the fauna of Lepidoptera of two areas in southern Italy characterized by extreme habitats: the Calanchi del Marchesato and the mouth of the Neto River, both located in the Calabria region, Crotone province, a territory with scarce and occasional faunistic investigations. After only one year of monthly surveys, we found 22 species of biogeographical interest at both national and regional levels. Eupithecia lentiscata was discovered in the Italian peninsula for the first time, previously recorded only in Sardinia so far, and E. phoeniceata was found for the first time in southern part of continental territory, being known in Italy only for Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, Abruzzo, and Sicily. Seven more species are new for the regional fauna. Furthermore, we also found seven abundant populations of usually rare species, and six more species were confirmed as rare at regional level. For any of these species we provided a measure of filled gaps. These results, also improved the knowledge concerning two Natura 2000 sites, providing insights on their management. To maximise results minimising field efforts and costs, it is very important to carefully select the study areas.

The Contribution of Cultivated and Semi-Natural Patches to the Beta Diversity of Nocturnal Lepidoptera within an Organic Century-Old Olive Grove in a Fragmented Landscape

The Contribution of Cultivated and Semi-Natural Patches to the Beta Diversity of Nocturnal Lepidoptera within an Organic Century-Old Olive Grove in a Fragmented Landscape

The Earth Rumbles: Amerindian Mythology of the Ténabarim, Koyolim, and Sena’Aso, Three Musical Instruments of the Pajko’Ola

During his dance, the Pajko'ola performs various percussion instruments by shaking (ténabarim, koyolim and senaaso). The analysis of each one cannot be separated from the mythology that underlies the character, associated with the Earth and telluric movements. Here the existence of a complex related to predominantly feminine entities and "wild beasts" -ancient women or ogres- of the "Old Men of the Dance" type and to nocturnal lepidoptera is proposed. The review of this approach is not exhaustive, but it allows us to locate aspects of mythology of Yuto-Nahuas groups and other linguistic affiliations, present and past, from Mexico and beyond. From the mythology of "noise" it is possible to locate the Pajko'ola and its musical instruments as belonging to the domain of the darkness.

Moths in space: The below-canopy structure of forest drives abundance and mobility-related traits of moth communities

The distribution of species is primarily driven by the availability of trophic resources. In a given forest type, insects trophically related to the dominant tree are expected to be evenly distributed due to the abundance of their foodplant. However, their distribution is also influenced by complex relationships with abiotic and biotic parameters such as available space, predatory pressure, and morphometric traits. In this study, we investigated how the three-dimensional structure of space below the canopy may affect the composition of nocturnal lepidoptera communities. To synthesise the complexity of the dispersal behaviour of these insects, we evaluated easily measurable traits such as wingspan and the presence of tympanic organs, both connected to their mobility and thus potentially influenced by the structure of the available flight space. The study was conducted in the Sila National Park (Italy), where 12 sampling sites were selected in pine forests and an additional 12 in beech forests. Forest spatial structure was investigated using a portable terrestrial laser scanner. Moths were sampled monthly using light traps from May to October in both 2019 and 2020. Among measured forest traits, we observed that the space above three meters from the ground is the only factor influencing community composition. Larger species with tympanic organs prefer environments with less space below tree canopies. Our findings could be the starting point for future studies that investigate a potential defence strategy of moths against bats, as tympanate and larger species not only actively avoid chiropter predation but could also choose denser forests because of a lower bat activity. Moths' distribution and community composition thus appear to be significantly shaped by the spatial structure of forests.

Experience from a light trap Lepidoptera survey in a populated settlement: effects of meteorological factors and changes in lunar phases

In the framework of the research, light trap Lepidoptera collections were carried out in the territory of a settlement (Velyki Berehy, Zakarpatska Oblast, Ukraine), which is bordered by nature reserves, forests, and agricultural areas, as well as by the remains of a large marsh (Szernye bog) that had been drained in the past. A Jermy light trap with a household LED bulb was used to capture the moths and butterflies. In addition to assessing the Lepidoptera fauna of the area, the study aimed to find out which species of Lepidoptera are attracted to energy-saving light bulbs commonly used in households in a settlement located in a habitat-diverse environment. In addition to the artificial light pollution conditions and other anthropogenic influences of the settlement, the direction and magnitude of the effects of temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, wind speed, and moon phase parameters at the time of collection on the flight trends of nocturnal Lepidoptera species were also investigated. A total of 97 days of collecting between May 2018 and May 2019 resulted in the collection of 122 Lepidoptera species from 16 families. In terms of their ecological requirements, species were found in closed and open forest, forest edge, scrub, meadow, actively cultivated and abandoned agricultural areas, as well as in dry and wet areas. Several species considered being agricultural, forestry, or horticultural pests were identified, but not in abundance. Among the environmental variables, temperature variation showed a strong significant positive correlation with daily species numbers and abundance, while relative humidity, wind speed, cloud coverage and moon phases showed varying degrees of negative correlation, but were generally weak. The effects of the interactions of natural and man-made environmental influences on living organisms are difficult to assess objectively, but their research is of paramount importance for the long-term effective conservation of habitats of particular conservation value and for the preservation of their biodiversity.

Acoustic camouflage increases with body size and changes with bat echolocation frequency range in a community of nocturnally active Lepidoptera.

Body size is an important trait in predator-prey dynamics as it is often linked to detection, as well as the success of capture or escape. Larger prey, for example, often runs higher risk of detection by their predators, which imposes stronger selection on their anti-predator traits compared to smaller prey. Nocturnal Lepidoptera (moths) vary strongly in body size, which has consequences for their predation risk, as bigger moths return stronger echoes for echolocating bats. To compensate for increased predation risk, larger moths are therefore expected to have improved anti-predator defences. Moths are covered by different types of scales, which for a few species are known to absorb ultrasound, thus providing acoustic camouflage. Here, we assessed whether moths differ in their acoustic camouflage in a size-dependent way by focusing on their body scales and the different frequency ranges used by bats. We used a sonar head to measure 3D echo scans of a total of 111 moth specimens across 58 species, from eight different families of Lepidoptera. We scanned all the specimens and related their echo-acoustic target strength to various body size measurements. Next, we removed the scales covering the thorax and abdomen and scanned a subset of specimens again to assess the sound absorptive properties of these scales. Comparing intact specimens with descaled specimens, we found almost all species to absorb ultrasound, reducing detection risk on average by 8%. Furthermore, the sound absorptive capacities of body scales increased with body size suggesting that larger species benefit more from acoustic camouflage. The size-dependent effect of camouflage was in particular pronounced for the higher frequencies (above 29 kHz), with moth species belonging to large-bodied families consequently demonstrating similar target strengths compared to species from small-bodied families. Finally, we found the families to differ in frequency range that provided the largest reduction in detection risk, which may be related to differences in predation pressure and predator communities of these families. In general, our findings have important implications for predator-prey interactions across eco-evolutionary timescales and may suggest that acoustic camouflage played a role in body size evolution of nocturnally active Lepidoptera.

Compact vs. Linear: Effects of Forest Structure, Patch Shape and Landscape Configuration on Black Alder Macromoth Communities

Landscape configuration and forest structure assume an increasing importance as determinants of animal communities. This paper focused on nocturnal Lepidoptera inhabiting alder patches in the Sila National Park, Italy. According to their shapes, patches were divided into linear and compact ones to disentangle the roles of forest structure and landscape configuration in determining the composition of nocturnal Lepidopteran communities at different observation scales. We used the Mann–Whitney test for medians and Shannon diversity, equitability, Fisher’s alpha, and nestedness to test differences among moth communities. We found that compact patches inhabited richer and more abundant communities. The abundance-based Correspondence Analysis showed moth communities clustered according to woodlot shape, except a compact woodlot with a linear-like moth community because it was entirely surrounded by grasslands. Percentage of forested area and abundance and composition of communities were positively correlated at 50 and 200 m buffers, while correlations were absent at smaller and larger buffers. Our results demonstrated that a width of 50 m may not be sufficient to give proper functionality to the wooded area, at least for moths. As a consequence, planning of forest restorations should consider the importance of increasing the structural habitat continuity at larger scales.

A preliminary study of biodiversity of nocturnal lepidoptera in selected areas of Jhalawar, Rajasthan

A preliminary study of biodiversity of nocturnal lepidoptera in selected areas of Jhalawar, Rajasthan

Weather Sensitivity of Sugar Bait Trapping of Nocturnal Moths: A Case Study from Northern Europe.

Assemblages of insects need to be quantitatively sampled in the context of various research questions. Light trapping is the most widely used method for sampling nocturnal Lepidoptera. Attracting moths to sugar baits offers a viable alternative. However, this method is rarely used in professional research despite its popularity among amateur lepidopterists. As the activity of insects is strongly dependent on ambient conditions, the sensitivity of any trapping method to weather parameters needs to be known for the quantitative interpretation of trapping results. In the present paper, we report data on the weather dependence of moth catches obtained by automatic bait traps. The study was performed in Estonia, representing the European hemiboreal forest zone. Portable weather stations set up next to each of the traps were used for collecting weather data. Both abundance and diversity of the moths in the catches depended strongly positively on temperature and negatively on air humidity. Diversity was also negatively correlated with air pressure and positively with the change in pressure during the night. The results show that in situ recording of weather parameters in connection to insect trapping provides useful insights for the study of insect behaviour and the interpretation of the results of monitoring projects.

Molecular advances to study the function, evolution and spectral tuning of arthropod visual opsins.

Visual opsins of vertebrates and invertebrates diversified independently and converged to detect ultraviolet to long wavelengths (LW) of green or red light. In both groups, colour vision largely derives from opsin number, expression patterns and changes in amino acids interacting with the chromophore. Functional insights regarding invertebrate opsin evolution have lagged behind those for vertebrates because of the disparity in genomic resources and the lack of robust in vitro systems to characterize spectral sensitivities. Here, we review bioinformatic approaches to identify and model functional variation in opsins as well as recently developed assays to measure spectral phenotypes. In particular, we discuss how transgenic lines, cAMP-spectroscopy and sensitive heterologous expression platforms are starting to decouple genotype–phenotype relationships of LW opsins to complement the classical physiological-behavioural-phylogenetic toolbox of invertebrate visual sensory studies. We illustrate the use of one heterologous method by characterizing novel LW Gq opsins from 10 species, including diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera, a terrestrial dragonfly and an aquatic crustacean, expressing them in HEK293T cells, and showing that their maximum absorbance spectra (λmax) range from 518 to 611 nm. We discuss the advantages of molecular approaches for arthropods with complications such as restricted availability, lateral filters, specialized photochemistry and/or electrophysiological constraints.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods’.

First records of Sphingidae, Saturniidae, and Arctiinae (Lepidoptera) in the forests of Polylepis sericea in the Huascarán National Park, Ancash, Peru

Polylepis forests are home to endemic species and are of great ecological importance. The degradation of these forests, a remarkable and unique biome in the Andean region, might cause severe consequences for the yet poorly studied high-altitude biota. In the context of Global Climate Change and other anthropogenic impacts, such as habitat loss and species invasion, the threat in this region is alarming. Therefore, studies informing about fauna and flora in this area are essential for conservation efforts and political decisions. In this study, we performed an inventory of three nocturnal Lepidoptera taxa (Sphingidae, Saturniidae, and Arctiinae) in Polylepis forests of the Huascarán National Park. The Huascarán National Park is a reserve in the Ancash region in the Andean zone of Peru. The specimens were collected using mixed light traps, from 18:00 to 24:00 hours in November (2015), February (2016), May (2016), and August (2016). We recorded seven species and 155 individuals, corresponding to two species of Sphingidae, one of Saturniidae, and four of Arctiinae. All the species presented are new records for the Huascarán National Park, three are new records for the department of Ancash and one new record for Peru.

The number of moths caught by light traps is affected more by microhabitat than the type of UV lamp used in a grassland habitat

We compared the performance of three entomological LED lamps that differed in intensity and wavelength composition by using them to catch 2257 individuals of 161 species and 11 families of nocturnal Lepidoptera in two grassland habitats (dry grassland and orchard meadow). The study was carried out in June and July 2020 in the Jenzig conservation area (Jena, Germany, 50°56´12˝N, 11°37´37˝E). In each habitat, we sampled three microhabitats that were either exposed, moderately sheltered or sheltered. Data were analysed using generalized linear mixed models. A lamp with high radiant flux (LepiLED maxi: 1.34 W mixed radiation) attracted 37% more moths and 5% more species than a lamp with a lower radiant flux (LepiLED mini: 0.55 W mixed radiation). The maxi lamp also attracted 17% more moths and 6% more species than the same lamp with UV radiation only (LepiLED maxi switch UV mode: 0.59 W). However, the maxi lamp only performed significantly better in exposed microhabitats, whereas the UV lamp performed similarly in the sheltered and moderately sheltered sites. The number of individuals caught in the dry grassland habitat was greater than in the orchard meadow (1288 vs. 969), whereas the number of species was similar in both habitats (120 vs. 128). Higher numbers of individuals were caught in the moderately sheltered sites than in the sheltered and exposed sites (935 vs. 773 vs. 549). The same trend was seen in the number of species (119 vs. 113 vs. 110). The communities of moths caught by traps with different lamps were similar. We conclude that light-trapping is a robust method that delivers comparable results even when different lamps are used. The use of several weak lamps is more efficient and results in larger catches than the use of a single strong lamp.

First comprehensive contribution to the knowledge of the lepidopteran fauna of Gioia Tauro Plain, South Italy (Lepidoptera)

In this paper, we investigated for the first time on the composition of nocturnal Lepidoptera of the Gioia Tauro Plain, Calabria region (South Italy). The main goal was to acquire information on the biodiversity of this insect order in an area little investigated and subject to strong anthropic pressures. The study was carried out for one year in 4 sites characterized by different habitats. Sampling was carried out about twice a month through the use of UV-LED light traps. In total, 791 specimens belonging to 97 species were collected. The species richness of the study area was rather low compared to a more natural habitat sampled near to the study area in previous years. However, we found species very interesting from a faunistic point of view. In detail, Morophaga morella (Duponchel, 1838) is a new record for the continental Italy. 15 species are new for the fauna of the Calabria region: Ornativalva tamaricella (Zeller, 1850), Cnephasia (Cnephasia) genitalana Pierce & Metcalfe, 1915, Euzophera lunulella (O. Costa, 1836), Hellula undalis (Fabricius, 1794), Raphimetopus ablutella (Zeller, 1839) Achyra nudalis (Hübner, 1796), Dioryctria mendacella (Staudinger, 1859), Ematheudes punctella (Treitschke, 1833), Endotricha flammealis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775), Oxybia transversella (Duponchel, 1836), Lamoria anella (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775), Anania crocealis (Hübner, 1796), Evergestis isatidalis (Duponchel, 1833), Udea ferrugalis (Hübner, 1796), and Uresiphita gilvata (Fabricius, 1794).

Flower-visiting and pollen-carrying arthropods of Leucojum aestivum L. (Amaryllidaceae) in wild, reintroduced and ex situ populations

Leucojum aestivum L. is a wetland-dependent perennial geophyte occurring in Europe and western Asia. It is self-incompatible, with high level of fruit-set and seed-set. Yet, its pollinators are poorly known. Here, we present the most recent research on potential pollinators of L. aestivum. We collected data on flower-visiting and pollen-carrying arthropods in three populations of the species in the River Po plain (N-Italy), where L. aestivum occurs mainly in forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus sp. pl. close to rivers. We studied a wild population, a new reintroduced population and an ex situ population located at the Botanical Garden of the University of Pavia. Our study identified 18 arthropod taxa carrying L. aestivum pollen; the soft-winged flower beetle Dasytes plumbeus (Coleoptera: Melyridae) and the sac-spider Clubiona sp. pl. (Araneae: Clubionidae) were the most frequent visitors. Hymenoptera only occasionally visited L. aestivum flowers (e.g. the sweat bee Lasioglossum punctatissimum). D. plumbeus, the long-horned beetle Grammoptera ruficornis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Clubiona sp. pl. and L. punctatissimum resulted in the taxa with the highest average abundance of pollen grains on their body suggesting a potential role in L. aestivum pollination. Differences in flower-visiting and pollen-carrying arthropods were observed between the three populations, with a decreasing taxonomic diversity of visiting species from the wild population to the ex situ population. Our results, based on direct observation in the field, are partially in contrast with a previous study on L. aestivum pollinators that suggested diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera and occasionally bees as main pollinators for the species.

Análisis de las reacciones de hipersensibilidad tipo I a los lepidópteros nocturnos en una población alérgica costarricense

Allergic patients are routinely tested for various allergens including molds, food, pollen, cockroaches and house dust mites; however, there are patients who present allergy symptoms but show negative results in Prick tests with the available allergens. To determine the percentage of patients sensitized to the nocturnal Lepidoptera and its role as an important environmental allergen. A retrospective analysis was carried out in which we determined the percentage of patients allergic to nocturnal Lepidoptera, house dust mites (Blomia tropicalis, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae and Tyrophagus putrescentiae) and insects (Periplaneta americana and Musca domestica). Also, we analyzed the demographics and symptoms of the patients. 63% of the patients were allergic to house dust mites, 39% to nocturnal Lepidoptera, 28% to Periplaneta americana and 24% to Musca domestica. Also, 2% of the patients allergic to only one allergen were mono-sensitized to nocturnal Lepidoptera. We strongly recommend that allergists constantly test for nocturnal Lepidoptera, because most of the studied patients had allergy to these insects.

Efficient assessment of nocturnal flying insect communities by combining automatic light traps and DNA metabarcoding

AbstractIncreasing evidence for global insect declines is prompting a renewed interest in the survey of whole insect communities. DNA metabarcoding can contribute to assessing diverse insect communities over a range of spatial and temporal scales, but efforts are still needed to optimize and standardize procedures. Here, we describe and test a methodological pipeline for surveying nocturnal flying insects, combining automatic light traps and DNA metabarcoding. We optimized laboratory procedures and then tested the methodological pipeline using 12 field samples collected in northern Portugal in 2017. We focused on Lepidoptera to compare metabarcoding results with those from morphological identification, using three types of bulk samples produced from each field sample (individuals, legs, and the unsorted mixture). The customized trap was highly efficient at collecting nocturnal flying insects, allowing a small team to operate several traps per night, and a fast field processing of samples for subsequent metabarcoding. Morphological processing yielded 871 identifiable individuals of 102 Lepidoptera species. Metabarcoding of the “mixture” bulk samples detected 528 taxa, most of which were Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera. There was a reasonably high matching in community composition between morphology and metabarcoding when considering the “individuals” and “legs” bulk samples, with few errors mostly associated with morphological misidentification of small and often degraded microlepidoptera. Regarding the “mixture” bulk sample, metabarcoding identified nearly four times more Lepidoptera species than morphological examination, mostly due to the recovery of DNA from very damaged specimens that could not be visually identified, but also thanks to the retention of body parts and DNA of specimens removed for the “individuals” and “legs” bulks. Our study provides a methodological metabarcoding pipeline that can be used in standardized surveys of nocturnal flying insects. Our approach efficiently collects highly diverse taxonomic groups such as nocturnal Lepidoptera that are poorly represented when using Malaise traps and other widely used field methods.

Contribution to the Knowledge of the Balkan Lepidoptera: Nocturnal Lepidoptera of Western Serbia (Lepidoptera)

Here are presented all data of the authors from five nights collecting in western Serbia at four localities. 401 species collected at light from 13 families are reported. Six species: Catoptria pauperellus (Treitschke, 1832), Macaria wauaria (Linnaeus, 1758), Charissa ambiguata (Duponchel, 1830), Charissa graecaria (Staudinger, 1871), Colostygia aptata (Hübner, 1813) and Eupithecia pimpinellata (Hübner, 1813) are new for Serbia. Seven other species are reported for a second time for the country. With illustrations of moths and their genitalia.

β-Diversity partitioning of moth communities within and between different forest types.

The partitioning of β-diversity is a recurrent practice in biogeographic and ecological studies that can provide key insights for land management, such as identification of biodiversity hot-spots. In this study, we used Baselga's metrics to measure the contribution of spatial turnover (βsim) and nestedness-resultant dissimilarity (βnes) to overall β-diversity (βsor) within- and between-forest types. We analyzed a presence/absence dataset concerning 593 species of nocturnal Lepidoptera sampled within chestnut, silver fir, beech, and black pine forests of southern Italy. Ordination methods and analysis of similarities were used to assess the relative contribution of βsim and βnes to βsor, and to assess their relationships with variables linked to the experimental design and known to be determinant for insect diversity and abundance. We found that βsor was mostly due to turnover, around 98.5% in β-diversity assessment of the whole sample, and around 91% in β-diversity assessment of individual forests. Using ordination analyses based on βsim, stands were grouped according to forest type, while βnes alone was used to ordinate stands coherently with their species richness. Nevertheless, the addition of βnes to βsim produced a more ecologically coherent grouping of stands within individual forest types, and βnes alone was able to recognize patterns determined by human disturbance. In conclusion, we demonstrate that β-diversity partitioning can help to detect differences in magnitude and role of processes determining the composition of forest moth communities as in different forests the same pattern can be due to opposite processes, providing strong ecological insights into managing forest biodiversity.

Effects of street lighting technologies on the success and quality of pollination in a nocturnally pollinated plant

AbstractArtificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasingly important driver of global change. Lighting directly affects plants, but few studies have investigated indirect effects mediated by interacting organisms. Nocturnal Lepidoptera are globally important pollinators, and pollen transport by moths is disrupted by lighting. Many street lighting systems are being replaced with novel, energy‐efficient lighting, with unknown ecological consequences. Using the wildflower Silene latifolia, we compared pollination success and quality at experimentally lit and unlit plots, testing two major changes to street lighting technology: in lamp type, from high‐pressure sodium lamps to light‐emitting diodes, and in lighting regime, from full‐night (FN) to part‐night (PN) lighting. We predicted that lighting would reduce pollination. S. latifolia was pollinated both diurnally and nocturnally. Contrary to our predictions, flowers under FN lighting had higher pollination success than flowers under either PN lighting or unlit controls, which did not significantly differ from each other. Lamp type, lighting regime, and distance from the light all significantly affected aspects of pollination quality. These results confirm that street lighting could affect plant reproduction through indirect effects mediated by nocturnal insects, and further highlight the possibility for novel lighting technologies to mitigate the effects of ALAN on ecosystems.

How different management regimes of chestnut forests affect diversity and abundance of moth communities?

Chestnut forests were exploited from centuries for several uses and are still nowadays managed under coppice and orchard regimes. The different management practices created a typical mosaic-like structure in landscapes in which alternate different kind of habitat represented by young and mature coppices, old thinned coppices with the physiognomy of high forest, and managed or abandoned orchards. The aim of our study was to evaluate how the different kind of management could affect the hosted biodiversity. We used nocturnal Lepidoptera as indicators, sampled in different woodlots along an altitudinal gradient in the chestnut forests of the Catena Costiera Mountains, southern Italy. We analyzed a published dataset concerning 15 stands subjected to different management regimes. We found that the main variables affecting moth communities distribution were (i) the elevation at which the stands were located and (ii) the time elapsed from the last human intervention. In fact, the stands subjected to recent intervention (young coppices and managed orchards) showed low values of moth richness and abundance, on the contrary the stands subjected to old interventions (mature and old coppices and abandoned orchards) registered a high number of species and individuals, mainly due to their greater structural complexity. Despite the quantitative differences, in woodlots recently managed were collected exclusive species that increased the diversity at a landscape level. Our results underlined the importance to maintain a mosaic-like landscape taking into account also the altitude when interventions are planned in order to improve the ecological sustainability of chestnut forest exploitation.