The first documented report of metalmark moths (Lepidoptera: Choreutidae) in Israel, with the first record of Oriental <em>Choreutis sexfasciella</em> (Sauber) in the Palearctic

Oz Rittner

Authors

Oz Rittner The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel. E-mail: israelbutterflies@gmail.com

Keywords:

Biodiversity, Lepidoptera, Choreutidae, Choreutis, metalmark moths, moths, Afrotropical, Oriental, Palearctic, Israel, Middle East, Moraceae, Ficus, introduced species, alien species

Abstract

The family of the metalmark moths (Lepidoptera: Choreutidae)—excluding the Millieriinae that have been elevated to the family level (Rota 2011)—contains 413 species (Rota et al. 2014) in 19 genera (Nieukerken et al. 2011; Rota & Miller 2013), which are distributed worldwide. Choreutis aegyptiaca (Zeller, 1867) was described from Cairo (Zeller 1867a) and since then recorded throughout the Afrotropics (incl. La Réunion and the Arabian Peninsula), India and Nepal (Meyrick 1914; Zachariades 1994; Gielis 2010; Gielis & Bippus 2016). Some authors (Koçak & Kemal 2012; Savela 2019a) have mentioned its presence in Israel, without, however, supporting their statements by actual records, or references to such records, of this species in the country. This situation might have been prompted by the tittle of the work (Zeller 1867b), where Ch. aegyptiaca was mentioned shortly after its description, and its occurrence in Israel has been taken for granted. The present note reports the first confirmed finding of Ch. aegyptiaca in Israel (Fig. 1), although this is neither unexpected nor surprising. Choreutis sexfasciella (Sauber, 1902 in Semper 1896–1902) (Fig. 2) was described from the Philippines (Semper 1896–1902) and subsequently recorded from Sri Lanka (Meyrick 1912), Japan (Arita & Diakonoff 1979), Taiwan (Heppner & Inoue 1992) and Java (Savela 2019b). This is a small moth species with a wingspan measuring approximately 10 mm. In recent years it has been observed and collected in Israel in several localities, thus becoming the second species of metalmark moths in Israel. This is also the first report of Ch. sexfasciella outside the Oriental Region.

Cite as: Rittner, O. 2019. The first documented report of metalmark moths (Lepidoptera: Choreutidae) in Israel, with the first record of Oriental Choreutis sexfasciella (Sauber) in the Palearctic. Israel Journal of Entomology 49 (1): 63–67.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3577837
http://zoobank.org/References/ABBBFAF1-C471-4CD2-A1F1-25E7C299284A