Entomologist's Gazette - Vol. 73, No. 4, 2022
Published: 1/27/2023
Article Details for this issue
EDITORIAL Important notice on the future of Entomologist’s Gazette
By: IAN JOHNSON MANAGING EDITOR
Page: 191
Type: Editorial
BOOK REVIEW British & Irish Moths 3rd Edition. A Photographic Guide by Chris Manley.
By: ADRIAN SPALDING
Page: 192
Type: Book Review
Simacauda dicommatias (Meyrick, 1931) (Lepidoptera: Incurvariidae), a South American species established in Cornwall, new to the British Isles and unknown in mainland Europe, with first details of its biology
By: R. J. HECKFORD, S. D. BEAVAN & D. C. LEES
Page: 193–218
Type: Paper
Synopsis:
An account is provided of the discovery of Simacauda dicommatias (Meyrick, 1931)
(Incurvariidae) at 26 sites in Cornwall, England, all in the larval stage, being initially leafminers
then case-bearers on South American members of the Myrtaceae, mainly Luma
apiculata (DC.) Burret, with moths being reared, and species identification confirmed by
genitalic examination. This is the first time that the species has been found in the British Isles
and it is unknown in mainland Europe. S. dicommatias is native to Argentina and Chile where
it occurs in Andean (Valdivian) temperate rainforests. The biology appears to be unknown
there, although adults have been collected around stands of L. apiculata. The generic identity
is additionally confirmed by a DNA barcode (658 base pairs) obtained from the abdomen of
one specimen from Cornwall. This matches (within 1.69% divergence for 296 comparable
nucleotides) a COI fragment on BOLD from a specimen collected in Parque Nacional
Puyehue, Chile, which is there misidentified as Simacauda virescens Nielsen & Davis, 1981, but
is 8.75% divergent from another two short sequences (correctly) so identified. It is known that
William Lobb, whilst employed by James Veitch & Son, imported L. apiculata (now an invasive
species in the British Isles), with one or more other Chilean Myrtaceae in the mid-1840s. It
remains to be tested if S. dicommatias may prove to be the earliest known example of an
established adventive insect accidentally introduced from South America to the British Isles.
Two new species of European Microgaster Latreille, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae), with host data on some further species
By: MARK R. SHAW
Page: 219–232
Type: Paper
Synopsis:
Two new European species of Microgaster are described from reared material. Microgaster
nervosae sp. nov. parasitizes Agonopterix species (Depressariidae) on Ulex and Genista in
Britain, and a key is provided to separate it from two other British Microgaster species that
parasitize other Agonopterix, with host information. Microgaster monetae sp. nov., a parasitoid
of Polychrysia monetae (Noctuidae), is described from Austrian specimens. The host repertoires
of Microgaster nobilis and M. australis, two European species that are regular parasitoids of
Hesperiidae: Pyrginae in the Mediterranean region, are discussed on the basis of reared
material in NMS. Some new country records (France, Israel, Portugal, Spain) of already
established Microgaster species are given.
Observations on the larva of Stenolechia gemmella (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)
By: R. J. HECKFORD & S. D. BEAVAN
Page: 233–249
Type: Paper
Synopsis:
An illustrated account is given of the larval feeding, larva and pupa of Stenolechia gemmella
(Linnaeus, 1758), whose larva is an internal feeder in the green stems of deciduous Quercus
spp. Accounts published in the British and European literature are considered.
BOOK REVIEW Butterflies of Cyprus. A Field Guide and Distribution Atlas, by Eddie John and Christodoulos Makris
By: R. I. VANE-WRIGHT
Page: 250–252
Type: Book Review
Notes on the three species of Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae) parasitizing Gonepteryx [Leach, 1815] species (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in Europe, with description of a new species from the Balearic Islands
By: MARK R. SHAW & PAU COLOM
Page: 253–260
Type: Paper
Synopsis:
Cotesia balearica Shaw & Colom sp. nov. is described as a solitary endemic parasitoid of
Gonepteryx cleopatra in the Balearic Islands. A key is given to the three known Cotesia parasitoids
of Gonepteryx in Europe, and biological notes are given for each species. Some new country
records are given.
BOOK REVIEW Butterflies of the United Arab Emirates including Northern Oman by Gary R. Feulner, Binish Roobas, Victor Hitchings, Herbert H. H. Otto, Oscar Campbell, Huw G. B. Roberts, Richard J. Hornby and Brigitte Howarth
By: EDDIE JOHN
Page: 261–264
Type: Book Review
BOOK REVIEW The Gelechiidae of North-West Europe by Keld Gregersen & Ole Karsholt
By: KLAUS SATTLER
Page: 264–265
Type: Book Review
BOOK REVIEW The Lives of Moths. A Natural History of Our Planet’s Moth Life by Andrei Sourakov and Rachel Warren Chadd
By: ADRIAN SPALDING
Page: 266–267
Type: Book Review
BOOK REVIEW Butterflies. A Natural History by Martin Warren
By: ADRIAN SPALDING
Page: 267–268
Type: Book Review