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.
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.
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.
Cotesia carterocephali sp. nov. is described from a single gregarious brood reared from a posthibernation final instar larva of the hesperiid butterfly Carterocephalus palaemon in Scotland. Details of English rearings of two other Microgastrinae recorded from Britain for the first time are also given: Distatrix pompelon , gregariously from the erebiid lymantriine Orgyia antiqua (also recorded from the same host in Austria), and Dolichogenidea hemerobiellicida , solitarily from the coleophorid Coleophora hemerobiella (with a record from possibly the same host in the Netherlands). The non-British Glyptapanteles aletta is recorded as a solitary parasitoid of Limenitis populi in Finland, France and Germany: a previous host record for this parasitoid is regarded as incorrect.
Following the arrival in Cyprus of Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758 in the autumn of 2021, an unusually severe winter in the eastern Mediterranean in 2021/2022 raised concern about the ability of the taxon to overwinter successfully, as had been achieved in Mediterranean Turkey and Syria in recent years. In Cyprus, early observations in April 2022, followed by the appearance of a new generation in June, allayed such concerns, and are reported upon here.
Vanessa atalanta(Linnaeus, 1758) is reported from Tajikistan for the first time. The distribution of this species in Central Asia is discussed.
The arrival ofPapilio demoleusLinnaeus, 1758 in Cyprus in 2021 signalled the species' first appearance in a country of the European Union attributable to range expansion from mainland coastal regions to the east, rather than by human-mediated activity. Molecular work on the Cyprus taxon has shown this to belong to nominotypicalP. demoleus demoleus, matching exactly results of similar work carried out on specimens from Mediterranean Syria. Breeding ofPapilio demoleuson three species ofCitrusat various urban locations in Cyprus has been confirmed, and from which observations it is apparent that two broods were achieved in late summer/autumn of 2021. As has been the experience in neighbouring Mediterranean Turkey and Syria, overwintering success is thought likely.
A female Thecophora Rondani, 1845 observed during September 2019 at Penallt, Monmouthshire, has been identified as Thecophora cinerascens (Meigen, 1804). The species is here part of a rich bee-related entomofauna and is new to mainland Britain.
