Bryotropha plebejella (Zeller, 1847)

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Karsholt, Ole, Kravchenko, Vasiliy & Šumpich, Jan, 2019, An annotated checklist of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) of Israel with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4677 (1), pp. 1-68 : 41

Bryotropha plebejella (Zeller, 1847)

Gelechia plebejella Zeller, 1847 —Isis von Oken 1847 (11): 850.

Gelechia imperitella Staudinger, 1859 —Stettin ent. Ztg 20 (7–9): 242.

Aristotelia ancillula Walsingham , [1908]—Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1907: 930.

Bryotropha inexpectella Nel, 1999 —Bull. Soc. ent. Fr. 104: 348.

Records. Bodenheimer 1930a: 173; Amsel 1933: 125; Amsel 1935c: 263; Bodenheimer 1937: 100; Halperin & Sauter 1992: 134 ( cf. plebejella ); Karsholt & Rütten 2005: 105.

Material examined. 3 ♀, Jerusalem , Palästina (Amsel), 8.iv.1930 (gen. prep. 2334, H. Hendriksen; slide No. AR0330, L.M. Rutten) ; 1 ♂, Kirjat , Anawim, Jerusalem, 2.v.1930 (gen. slide No. AR 0275, A.L.M. Rutten) ; 2 ♀, Jerusalem , 9.iv.1930 (Amsel) (gen. slide HH2334; AR0330) (all SMNK) ; 2 ♀, Jerusalem , 6.vi.2004 (Kravchenko) ( TAU) .

Host plant. Halperin & Sauter (op cit.—as “ Bryotropha cf. plebejella Z.”) recorded larvae feeding on twigs of Quercus ithaburensis Decne. and green twigs of Tamarix aphylla (L.) H. Karst. infested with Waxiella tamaricis . We consider these records as doubtful because larvae of Bryotropha species feed on mosses (Bryophyta) ( Karsholt & Rutten 2005: 85).

Distribution. Madeira and Canary Islands, South Europe, North Africa, Turkey, Syria, Israel ( Karsholt & Rutten 2005: 134).