Bollettino dell’Associazione Romana di Entomologia, 65 (1-4) (2010): 3-383. ManueLa Pinzari (*), Mario Pinzari (**) and aLberto ziLLi (***) DEEP LEPIDOPTEROLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF MT CAGNO AND SURROUNDINGS (CENTRAL ITALy), A RESTRICTED MOUNTAIN MASSIF AND HOTSPOT FOR BUTTERFLy AND MOTH DIVERSITy (Lepidoptera) introduction Modern environmental research is more and more focusing on the Lepi - doptera as a source of valuable ecological information for a variety of purposes which range from the assessment of habitat quality to studies on global change, planning of land use, environmental management, categorisation of priority areas in conservation and more theoretical studies. Detailed knowledge of the actual faunas as compared to potential ones is however a prerequisite for any work with this group of insects other than useful but speculative model excer- cises which probably much too often fill modern ecological and biogeographi- cal literature. Accordingly, we deem useful to report here on the Lepidoptera fauna of a fairly restricted mountaineous area in Central Italy which is charac- terised by relatively weak human impact and was intensely surveyed by the au- thors. This impact is far not absent but essentially “old-fashioned”, consisting of traditional ways of land management in montane habitats of the Apennines, e.g. regular logging with turnover of 30-40 years, grazing by sheeps and cat- tle, reafforestation with pine stands, haying, quarrying and captation of water springs for civil uses by local villages. Very moderate agriculture was more developed in the past, with the building of drywalls for cultivation of the white pea (Lathyrus sativus L.), but it has substantially expired since the second world war. The study area consists of the surroundings of Vallemare, a second- ary village belonging to the municipality of Borbona (Province of Rieti, La- tium, Central Italy) at about 1,000 m of altitude, located to the north of Mt Gia no (1,826 m), the main peak of the local range. In the area also a Site of (*) Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scien ti- fi ca, 1 - 00133 Roma. E-mail: [email protected] (**) Piazza Francesco Morosini, 12, 00136 Roma. E-mail: [email protected] (***) Museo Civico di Zoologia, Via Ulisse Aldrovandi, 18 - 00197 Roma. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Community Importance is fully comprised, namely that of “Monte Cagno e Colle Pratoguerra” (SIC IT6020028), which among the other was identi- fied because of the presence of “Euphydryas aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775)” (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) and Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae), two species of insects listed in the “Habitat directive”. Regular studies on the Lepidoptera of the area begun in 1967. At first they were essentially dedicated to the local butterfly fauna (Rhopalocera), but with the time they were extended so as to include the macromoths and, during the last 10 years, also several families of the so-called “micros”. Three generations of lepidopterists represented by the authors suceeded and overlapped for the undertaking of this study. MateriaLs and Methods The present work consists of a detailed account on all the Lepidoptera spe- cies which have been recorded and taxonomically identified from the study area, whereas we prefer to deal in another contribution with several species which have already been collected but have not been satisfactorily identified (approx. 50, mainly of “Microlepidoptera”), although in many cases identifi- cation of restricted species groups was achieved. Fig. 1 – Study area and collecting sites with their altitude: 1) Fonte dei Vitelli, 849 m: 2) Pineta (Pozzo), 900 m; 3) Li Capitoni, 945 m; 4) La Pineta (1st hairpin curve), 950 m; 5) Fonte de lu Cupu, 980 m; 6) Fonte Perara, 983 m; 7) La Pineta, 1000 m; 8) Colle Petruccio, 1000 m; 9) S. Maria del Monte, 1000 m; 10) Cimitero, 1002 m; 11) Pian Mattano (Cava), 1100 m; 12) Migliaru Cerecia, 1170 m; 13) Le Cannaine, 1040 m; 14) Bivio Santa Maria del Monte - Fonte Brignola, 1300 m; 15) Pozzo dei Corvi, 1050 m; 16) Casale Manocchio, 1059 m; 17) Lu Migliaru, 1083 m; 18) Prata di Laculo, 1088 m; 19) Costa della Chiusa, 1093 m; 20) La Palombara, 1094 m; 21) Curva Via della Fonte, 1150 m; 22) Le Pacinette, 1100 m; 23) Colle Marcone, 1121 m; 24) Monte Falascone, 1135 m; 25) Casale Spaccone, 1136 m; 26) Lu Canalone, 1174 m; 27) Fonte Brignola, 1187 m; 28) Via Tratturo Cagno, 1380 m; 29) La Crociata, 1200 m; 30) Fonte Cerecia, 1220 m; 31) Monti Poponi, 1253 m; 32) Tornante Mattano-Malepasso, 1170 m; 33) Valle Orticara, 1300 m; 34) Pian Zeidenti, 1300 m; 35) Costa Rosata, 1317 m; 36) Colle Orticara, 1357 m; 37) Prata di Cagno, 1383 m; 38) Valle del Tratturo, 1394 m; 39) Le Pratelle, 1400 m; 40) Pratoguerra, 1439 m; 41) Colle Lungo, 1450 m; 42) Pozza Retorna, 1450 m; 43) Monte Pizzaro, 1300 m; 44) Curva Orticara Tratturo, 1403 m; 45) Pozza Maiale, 1480 m; 46) Prata Lungo, 1533 m; 47) Li Merchi, 1540 m; 48) La Mozza, 1544 m; 49) Colle Prato, 1463 m; 50) Monte Cerreto, Vena dell’Aquila, 1541 m; 51) Le Quattro Facce, 1600 m; 52) Prati di Monte Giano, 1790 m; 53) Monte Giano, 1820 m; 54) Colle Piano, 1200 m; 55) Valle Entamella, 1218 m. 4 Study area The study area extends over approximately 2,800 hectars (1,800 in pro- jection onto plane) in the Province of Rieti and ranges between the altitudinal limits of 850 m, near the spring “Fonte dei Vitelli”, and 1,826 m above sea level, at the peak of Mt Giano. The land area is shared among four munici- palities, namely Posta, with the secondary villages of Villa Camponeschi and Laculo, Borbona, with Vallemare, and not inhabited parts of the municipalities of Micigliano and Antrodoco. In figure 1 the collecting sites are shown, some being fairly isolated where- as others are very close to each other. The reason of such apparently random distribution is that we aimed at linking any record to the very local microen- vironment from which it originated. The sites are as a whole 55 (plus another one limital), a figure which simply reflects our intention to provide a detailed account on the local distribution of the Lepidoptera in the study area, pend- ing on an analysis of the microecological distribution of the species within the area to come. The fact that the more in altitude the less are the sites is due to mounting coverage by beechwood, which maintains fairly homogeneous con- ditions over broader topographical areas. Official toponyms which are present in the available cartography are often unsuitable to fulfil with the detailed re- cording scheme that we followed, accordingly, when they are used they almost precisely relate to the actual spot marked in figure 1. We used also local ver- nacular names, some of which about to disappear from the speech by natives, for a number of punctual localities. In the study area three main lithological formations are represented, name- ly (a) marnes and marly limestone, (b) bioclast calcarenites and (c) limestone (each of these types is represented by a different symbol Fig. 1). The first, less resistant to erosion, prevail to the North and Northwest of the area, from low altitude up to nearly 1,200 m a.s.l., calcarenites to the East up to approx. 1,600 m, and limestone to the South up to the highest peak of the area (Mt Giano). Flatlands are either of alluvial or carsic origin. In the first case they appear as small detrital plains in compluvia linked to faults, in the second they are real dolinas, usually corresponding to clearings inside the beechwoods. These sites, where brown calcareous soils develop, were in the past cultivated with wheat, lentil, maize and potato, but they are currently used at the most as pastures, and occasionally undergo haying. Climate diagrams drawn after the Bagnouls-Gaussen system for the near- by localities of Posta (721 m), Leonessa (974 m) and Mt Terminillo (1,750 m) indicate that in general no summer drought occurs (Fig. 2). From a phytocli- matic standpoint the most of the study area is comprised within the lower mon- tane thermotype, upper humid/lower hyperhumid ombrotype, mesaxeric/axeric region (hypomesaxeric and cold temperate subregion), with just some limital 6 Posta (RI) 721 m 250 (C°) 200 150 (mm) 100 Rainfall Mean Temperature Mean 50 0.5 x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Leonessa (RI) 974 m 250 Months (C°) 200 150 (mm) 100 Rainfall Mean Temperature Mean 50 Terminillo (RI) 1750 m 0.5 x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 250 Months (C°) 200 150 (mm) 100 Rainfall Mean Temperature Mean 50 0.5 x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Months Weather Mean annual Mean annual station temperature [°C] rainfall [mm] Posta 721 m 10.63 1,189.31 Leonessa 974 m 10.22 1,577.18 Terminillo 1,750 m 5.57 1,576.54 Fig. 2 – Climate diagrams drawn after the Bagnouls-Gaussen system for the localities of Posta (721 m), Leonessa (974 m) and Mt Terminillo (1,750 m) (averages on 21 years, period 1955- 1975, from “Annali Idrologici del Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici”). 7 collecting sites (nos. 1-2, 4, and 7-8 in Fig. 1) in the lower, warmer unit (Bla- si, 1994). As a rule, the most interesting sites for Lepidoptera correspond to montane grassland habitats and slopes, particularly if steep and rocky, all areas which were deeply exploited in the past for grazing but nowadays suffer from a much weaker pressure by cattle and sheeps (Figs 3-10).