Entomologist's Gazette - Vol. 67, No. 4, 2016

Published: 10/28/2016

Article Details for this issue

IN MEMORIAM DR WALTER GERALD (GERRY) TREMEWAN 1931–2016

By: MARTIN HONEY & ADRIAN SPALDING

Page: 223-224

Type: Editorial

Coleophora glitzella Hofmann, 1869 (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae): larval observations including the pre-case feeding phase

By: S. D. BEAVAN & R. J. HECKFORD

Page: 225–232

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Differences are considered in the timing in Scotland as to when the larva of Coleophora glitzella Hofmann, 1869, makes its first case. Two larval descriptions published in the nineteenth century are cited because the most recent British account (Bland, 1996: 231–232) states that the larva is undescribed. A limited larval description is provided based on our own observations.

Ecology and predation of Sesia apiformis (Clerck, 1759) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

By: D. E. NEWLAND & T. J. SAWYER

Page: 233–245

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
During 2013, the authors studied the emergence of Sesia apiformis from a hybrid black poplar tree in Cambridge (Newland & Sawyer, 2014). In 2014 they continued their study and 18 moths emerged some three weeks earlier than in 2013. For the first time, the escape of an adult male from its pupa was watched and photographed. Predation of adult moths by birds before the moths had dried their wings or completed mating and ovipositing was exceptionally heavy. Possible explanations for the early emergence and high rate of predation are suggested.

Two species of Melitaea Fabricius, 1807 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) newly recorded from Apulia (southern Italy)

By: GIUSEPPE CAGNETTA

Page: 246–248

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The occurrence of Melitaea ornata (Christoph, 1893) and M. trivia ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) in Apulia, southern Italy, is recorded.

The effects of synthetic pheromone exposure on female oviposition and male longevity in Zygaena filipendulae (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae, Zygaeninae)

By: DAVID THACKERY & JOSEPH BURMAN

Page: 249–256

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The use of pheromone lures for rare insect monitoring and survey is relatively modern since pheromones were primarily developed for the purpose of pest management. As a result of this shift in usage, questions have been raised about the potential implications of powerful synthetic pheromones on fragile wild populations. This study assessed the effect of pheromone exposure on the burnet moth Zygaena filipendulae (Linnaeus, 1758). Moths were reared and mated at two separate sites, viz. one where moths were exposed to synthetic sex pheromone, and another acting as an unexposed control where no synthetic lures were present. Mating experiments were set up at each site in order to assess female oviposition and male longevity. no significant difference was found in oviposition between exposed and control females. A significant difference was recorded between exposed and unexposed male longevity when the males that had a mating opportunity were tested. males that were exposed to the pheromone blend had a longer lifespan in the pheromone exposed group compared with the control. These findings demonstrate that neither male longevity nor female oviposition is negatively affected by the presence of the pheromone blend. The results of the male longevity experiment suggests synthetic sex pheromones could in fact have an enhancing effect, stimulating males in a local population, and lengthening their period of mating opportunity.

The ‘Manchester Tinea’, Euclemensia woodiella (Curtis, 1830) (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae), an entomological mystery unravelled

By: BRIAN V. RIDOUT

Page: 257–265

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Specimens of Euclemensia woodiella were collected on Kersal Moor, Manchester, in June 1829 but the species had never been found in the U.K. again. This paper demonstrates that it still occurs in the oak woodlands of the eastern U.S.A. and was probably brought to England in a cargo of bark.

BOOK REVIEWS The Winged Wonders. Butterfly, Moth and Bird Expeditions to Siberia and North America, by Kauri Mikkola

By: ADRIAN SPALDING

Page: 266-267

Type: Book Review

Moth, by Matthew Gandy

By: R. L. H. DENNIS

Page: 267-268

Type: Book Review

An historical note on butterfly collecting in France during The Great War (1914–1918)

By: W. JOHN TENNENT

Page: 269–274

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Examination of historical correspondence in the Natural History Museum, London, from the family archive of Oliver Janson & Sons, Natural Historians, revealed three orders for the purchase of equipment for collecting and rearing insects from a British doctor serving at No. 16 General Hospital at Le Tréport, north-west France, at the time of The Great War in mid- 1916. A specimen of Iphiclides podalirius (Linnaeus, 1758), said to have been taken on the front line trenches at Marincourt, the Somme, by a soldier of the British Expeditionary Force, also in 1916, is present in the collections of the Natural History Museum. Efforts to identify the servicemen concerned in both cases met with mixed results.

The recent distribution of Grapholita pallifrontana Zeller, 1845 (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in England, with notes on some recent conservation initiatives

By: Mark Parsons, Rachel Jones & Guy Meredith

Page: 275–279

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The distribution of Grapholita pallifrontana Zeller, 1845, in England from 2000 onwards is discussed. Four recent conservation initiatives, including two in Somerset and one in Gloucestershire, are briefly highlighted.

Does dramatically changed solar illumination and atmospheric humidity trigger responses in insect behaviour?

By: PAUL F. WHITEHEAD

Page: 281–286

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Empirical evidence is provided to support the view that rapid and dramatic changes in atmospheric conditions on a variety of spatial scales may influence the flight behaviour of insects. On Cyprus it is possible that reduced illumination associated with a mobile dust cloud induced or enabled immigrant Lepidoptera to cross the Mediterranean Sea, possibly from Africa. In Poland short-term ‘temperate rainforest’ conditions influenced the behaviour of longhorn beetles.

The distribution of Pterophoridae (Lepidoptera) in the Uralo- Caspian region

By: TATIANA TROFIMOVA, DMITRY SHOVKOON & PETER USTJUZHANIN

Page: 287–298

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
This article provides an annotated list of 56 species of Pterophoridae for the fauna of Bashkortostan, Orenburg Region and Western Kazakhstan. Thirty-one species are noted for Bashkortostan, 33 for the Orenburg Region and 31 for Western Kazakhstan; of these species, thirteen were recorded by Caradja (1920) only. Oxyptilus parvidactyla, Merrifieldia leucodactyla and Hellinsia osteodactyla are newly recorded for Bashkortostan; Stenoptilia stigmatodactyla, Cnaemidophorus rhododactyla, O. parvidactyla, Crombrugghia tristis, Geina didactyla, Calyciphora homoiodactyla, M. baliodactyla, H. inulae and H. lienigiana are newly recorded for the Orenburg Region; Marasmarcha colossa and Capperia celeusi are newly recorded for Western Kazakhstan.