Lepidopterological fauna of Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn., forests in the Sila Massif (southern Italy) (Insecta: Lepidoptera)

Abstract

In this paper we described the Lepidoptera fauna of the Calabrian black alder forests in the Sila Massif, southern Italy. We sampled eight stands for moths and four stands for diurnal Lepidoptera, at 1250-1397 meters of altitude. One UV-Led light traps per stand was turned on once per month from March to November 2017 to sample moths, one semi-quantitative transect per stand carried out once every two weeks from April to September 2017 to sample diurnal Lepidoptera. We collected 9,140 individuals belonging to 402 species, of which 117 species of diurnal Lepidoptera and 306 of nocturns Lepidoptera. Orthosia incerta (Noctuidae) andEilema lurideola (Erebidae) were the most abundant nocturns Lepidoptera species, Maniola jurtina (Nymphalidae) and Polyommatus icarus (Lycaenidae) were the most abundant diurnal species. Particularly interesting was the presence of many species of great biogeographic and/or conservation interest such as Dychagiris signifera, Acossus terebra, Plusidia cheiranthi, and Zygaena nevadensis among Heterocera, and Zerynthia cassandra, Parnassius mnemosyne, Brenthis ino and Phengaris arion among Rhopalocera. Furthermore, the finding of Eupithecia trisignaria strongly improve the importance of black alder forests for the conservation of biodiversity.