Epischidia fulvostrigella ( Eversmann, 1844 )

Yepishin, Viktor, Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Budashkin, Yuriy, Zhakov, Oleksandr, Mushynskyi, Vadym & Novytskyi, Sergiy, 2020, New records of little known pyraloid moths (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) from Ukraine, Zootaxa 4808 (1), pp. 101-120 : 109-110

Epischidia fulvostrigella ( Eversmann, 1844)

Material examined: 1♂, 2♀, Mykolaiv reg., Mykolaiv, 22, 25.viii.1928 (N. Obraztsov), genitalia slide: O. Bidzilya prep. no. 269 / 18♀, 270/ 18♂ ( ZMKU) .

Distribution. Libya, Jordan, Egypt (Sinai Peninsula), Romania ( Roesler 1973); Spain ( Asselbergs 2002); Russia: Middle and Lower Volga, W Caucasus and S Urals (Sinev et al. 2019); Kazakhstan ( Anikin et al. 2017); Ukraine: Mykolaiv ( Obraztsov 1935b, as Proceratia caesariella , misidentification), Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk ( Bidzilya et al. 2001), Luhansk ( Demyanenko 2019) regions and Crimea ( Bidzilya et al. 2003; Budashkin 2004).

Biology. Larvae were recorded feeding on Halocnemum strobilaceum (Pall.) M. Bieb. in salt marshes in South Sivash area of Crimea. Since saline habitats are not found in the Karadah Nature Reserve, the only specimen recorded from there ( Budashkin 2004) is undoubtedly a migrant. This is the first host plant record of larva of this species.

Note. The species was recorded from Mykolaiv region as Proceratia caesariella (Hampson in Ragonot & Hampson, 1901) ( Obraztsov 1935b) . Our examination of genitalia, justified the assignment of the above cited specimens to Epischidia fulvostrigella . Hence E. caesariella is removed from the list of Pyralidae of Ukraine due to misidentification.