© Entomologica Fennica. 7 July 1998 Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) from Cyprus with descriptions of larvae of some species Matti Ahola Ahola, M. 1998: Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) from Cyprus with descriptions of larvae of some species.- Entomol. Fennica 9: 19-36. A list of species collected is presented with notes on collecting sites. Larvae of Agrochola orientalis Fibiger, 1997 Agrochola lychnidis (Denis & Schiffer­ mtiller, 1775), Ammoconia aholai Fibiger, 1996, Allophyes asiatica (Stau­ dinger, 1892) and Polymixis trisignata (Menetries, 1847) are described and illustrated. Comparative comments with some closely related species are given. Matti Ahola, Sievintie 319, F1N-85900 Reisjiirvi, Finland Received 14 June 1997, accepted 23 February 1998 1. Introduction scnted in Table 1. Names and systematics fol­ low Nowacki and Fibiger (1996), with one ex­ During two trips to Cyprus especially Noctuidae ception. were observed. The first time in December 1993, I spent some thrilling moments after lights were turned on and sugar-baits were hanging from the 2. Methods twigs near the ruins of Salamis. It was the night of Christmas Eve, some minutes past 17:00 at sun­ Moths were collected between 23.XII.l993-5.1.1994 and set. The first half hour my 40-W tube-lights were 2l.XII-26.XII.l994 the usual way by using light and sugar­ baits. On the first trip, a Honda generator ran four tube­ empty and it was time to visit the sugar-baits. As lights, two of them were 40-W Phillips tubes with bluish usual, I used ropes with sugar and red wine. I light and two 20-W Insect-o-Cutor tubes with greenish light. slowly approached the first bait and found some On the second trip, only sugar-baits were used because of moths sitting on the rope! In a short while the first rather poor lighting results. Ten to 15 sugar ropes, each 3- moths were in my net. Never before had I been in 4 m long, were hung in the vegetation every night. Sugar a Mediterranean area collecting moths at this time and wine were used as bait. The best time for baiting was just after sunset between 17:00 and 19:00, at other times and did not know, which species might fly at the the ropes hung empty. For the rearings some females were end of the year. taken alive with the purpose of egg-laying. After eggs were My friend Mr. Jyrki Lehto and I collected laid, the rearings were performed at room temperature. The moths between 30.XII.l993 and 5.I.l994 in the habitus of the last instar larvae were described and docu­ area north of Salamis and on the Five Finger mented by photographing, the larvae were preserved in al­ Mountains along the northern coast from Girne cohol or dried by blowing and mouth parts were prepared in Euparal and drawn with a Wild binocular drawing tube. to Dipkarpaz. For the rest of my first trip and dur­ Hinton's (1946) names of setae are used in chaetotaxy as ing my second trip on 21-26.12.1994 I worked interpreted by Ahola (1986). The description of ornaments alone. A list of collecting sites and species is pre- follows Beck (1974). 20 Ahola: Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) from Cyprus • ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 9 Table 1. A list of moths collected in Cyprus 23.XII.1993-5.1.1994 and 21.XII.1994-26.XII.1994. Collecting sites: 1 =Salamis (Yeni Bogazici) 23.XII.1993-5.1.1994; 2 = Camlica 26.XII.1993; 3 = Akcicek 27.XII.1993; 4 = Dipkarpaz 28.XII.1993; 5 = Kantara 29.XII.-1.1.1994; 6 = BesparmakTepesi 30.XII.1993; 7 = Karaman 2.1.1994; 8 = Kozan 4.1.1994; 9 = Akcicek 21 .XII.1994; 10 = Sinan Tepe 22.XII.1994; 11 = Yedidalga 23.XII.1994; 12 = Bufavento 24.XII.1994; 13 =Salamis 25.XII.1994; 14 = Besparmak 26.XII.1994. N =New to Cyprus. Family Sites Notes Genus Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Noctuidae Hypeninae Hypena lividalis (Hubner, 1796) + - - 2 exx Plusiinae Autographa gamma (Linnaeus, 1758) + --+--- - + - + - Trichoplusia ni (Hubner, 1803) -- + 1m vittata (Wallengren, 1 856) - + - 1 f, N Chrysodeixis chalcites (Esper, [1789]) + - - - - - - - - + - 2m Eustrotiinae Eublemma ostrina (Hubner,[1808]) + + - + - 4 exx Cuculliinae Cucullia ca/endu/ae Treitschke, 1835 + + - - + - Abundant Al/ophyes asiatica (Staudinger, 1891) - + + - - - + - ++ -+ 8 exx Condicinae Condica viscosa (Freyer, 1831) - + - 2m Heliothinae Heliothis peltigera ([Denis & Schiffermuller], 1775) + + - 3 exx Heliothis nubigera Herrich-Schaffer, 1851 + - - 1m Hadeninae Paradrina flavirena (Guenee, 1852) + - - 1 f Spodoptera exigua (Hubner,[1808)) + - -- --- - + - - + 8 exx cilium (Guenee, 1 852) + - - - + 4 exx littoralis (Boisduval, 1 833) + + - - + - - + Common Agrochola lychnidis ([Denis & Schiffermuller], 1775) ++++++++++++++ Abundant macilenta (Hubner,[1809)) --- + --++- 17 exx orienta/is Fibiger, 1997 - - + - + + + - - 3 f.4 m, N Conistra rubricans Fibiger, 1997 - + - + + + - Abundant, N Aporophyla australis (Boisduval, 1829) +++++ - --+-++++ Abundant nigra (Haworth, 1 809) ++++ - ++ + + + + Abundant canescens (Duponchel, 1826) - + - - - + + - 5 exx Lithophane lapidea (Hubner, 1 808) +--- ---- +--+-+ 6 exx Xylena exsoleta (Linnaeus, 1758) - + - - -- - + 2 exx Dryobotodes carbonis (F. Wagner, 1931) ------- + 3 exx Ammoconia aholai Fibiger, 1996 --++---+++++ 41,7 m, N Polymixis rufocincta (Geyer,[1828)) ++++++- - ++++-+ Abundant trisignata (Menetries, 1 847) +++-+ ++++++ Abundant aphrodite Fibiger, 1997 - - + -- -- + - + 6 exx, N Mythimna unipuncta (Haworth, 1 809) + - - - -- - 1 m 1-a/bum (Linnaeus, 1767) + - 3m /anguida (Walker, 1858) --------+--+ 12 exx loreyi (Duponchel, 1827) ----+--+ 2m Noctuinae Noctua pronuba Linnaeus, 1758 + - - - -- 1 m Peridroma saucia (Hubner,[1808]) - + 1m Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel, 1766) + - - + - - - - - + 5 exx trux (Hubner,[1824]) + - - - - - - - + + + - 6 exx segetum ([Denis & Schiffermuller], 1775) + + - 3 exx Lymantriidae Orgyia dubia (Tauscher, 1806) + - - - - - - Larvae Nolidae Nolinae Nola aegyptiaca Snellen, 1875 + - 1 f, N Chloephorinae Nycteola columbana Turner, 1925 - + - 1 m Arctiidae Ocnogyna /oewii (Zeller, 1846) + - 3m ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 9 • Ahola: Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) from Cyprus 21 CYPRUS 11 .. 19':i1 tr) 1 25 km Fig. 1. A map of Cyprus. Numbers of collecting sites (encircled) refer to those presented in Table 1, black triangle shows the highest tops of the Five Finger Mountains and Troodos. Black fleck in the middle is Nicosia/ Lefkosa, the capital city of Cyprus. 3. Collecting sites tude about 600 m. Site numbers 3 and 9 were si­ tuated high on the dry southern slopes near Ak­ All localities are shown in Fig. 1, numbers refer cicek, altitude about 800 m, and number 8 in a to the map. There are two mountains in Cyprus. lower place close to Kozan, at about 400 m. Loca­ Peaks of Troodos mountains are higher, reaching lity number 2 was near Camlica, on the southern 1 951 m while the other one, Besparmak Daglari foothills of the mountain at about 200 m. Other also called the Five Finger Mountains, is lower collecting localities were on the coastal area, num­ reaching 1 024 m on the highest top of Selvilt tepe. bers 1 and 13 close to the Salamis ruins on the During both trips this mountain was of great inte­ beach, number 4 near Dipkarpaz on sand downs, rest to me. According to the English name of the number 11 near Y edidalga at the foot of the mountain, there are five peaks and Selvilt tepe Troodos mountain and number 14 in Pinus forest situated westermost. The other "fingers" of the close to the path to Besparmak village. mountain from west to east are Komando tepe, Besparmak tepesi, Yayla tepe and Sinan tepe. The southern slopes of the mountain are dry with 4. Larval descriptions macchia-vegetation whereas the northern part is shielded by trees, mostly Pinus. Woodlands, es­ 4.1. Agrochola orienta/is Fibiger, 1997 pecially with shade trees predominating, are scarce. For example, I only found /lex species near Material examined: 2 larvae in last instar ex ovo, female Kantara (collecting sites 5 and 10, altitude about collected near Sin an tepe to the west of Kantara 22.XII.1994. 500 m). This place is rather rich with deciduous Mouthparts (Figs. 2-5 and 21): Spinneret ra­ trees and bushes. Sites 6 and 12 were situated in ther stout, about 2.8 X its width, dorsoventrally Pinus-forest, on the ridge of the mountain, alti- flattened with one groove above, slightly taper- 22 Ahola: Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) from Cyprus • ENTOMOL. FENNICA Vol. 9 ing distad. Labial palps with relatively thick first Egg (Fig. 23): Plain pale brown. segment (Lpsl), about 1.8 x its width; length of Host: In ex ovo rearing larvae fed on lettuce. seta Lp2 about 3 x that of seta Lp 1. S tipular setae Similar species: The larva of A. orienta/is is relatively long, as long as width of Lpsl. Distal close to both A. liturra (Linnaeus, 1758) and region of hypopharynx covered by short spines, A. me ridionalis (Staudinger, 1871). It differs from letters refer to Fig. 14; spines of distal lateral group both related species as follows: subdorsal lines (a) stouter and longer, about 3 X length of spines on shields are broken into white spots; violet tinge of distal medial group (b). Spines of distal ante­ present on margins of subdorsal line on abdomen; rior (c) and distal posterior (d) groups short. Pos­ ventral edge of spiracular line sharp; strong red­ terior region of hypopharynx with row of weak dish colour on the apex of prolegs and thoracic lateral spines (e), dorsolateral spines (f) and spines legs red or reddish-brown. In addition shape of located behind lateral group (h) nearly equal in spinneret is stouter. Larva of A. meridionalis has size, those of posteromedial group (g) are very slender Lps1 of labial palpus, about twice its thin and short. Spines of d and g groups formed width. Comparative scheme of spines of hypo­ into open circles. Mandible with six teeth of cut­ pharynx between A. orienta/is and related spe­ ting margin and three parallel ridges on inner sur­ cies in Fig.