Ophiusa tirhaca (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) in the Romanian fauna

Abstract

The palaeotropical-subtropical moth Ophiusa tirhaca (Cramer, 1777) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) has been known in Romania based on a single (undated) specimen collected in Iași (north-eastern Romania), at least 55–60 years ago. As a consequence, this species has either been excluded or regarded as data deficient in various checklists of Romanian Lepidoptera. Here we present the first fully documented record of O. tirhaca from Romania. A single specimen was found in August 2022 on the Black Sea coast, east of Agigea town (Marine Dunes from Agigea nature reserve), caught by a mist net. Since this thermophilous species cannot become established in the climatic conditions of Romania, the specimen is most likely an immigrant, although it might also represent an accidental arrival due to the close proximity of Constanța harbour (virtually bordering the collection site). The occurrence of O. tirhaca in south-eastern Romania underlines the importance of the western Black Sea coast as a corridor for migratory or expansive species, adding to an increasing series of recent Lepidoptera reports such as Grammodes bifasciata (Petagna, 1787), Acontia candefacta (Hübner, 1831), Dysgonia rogenhoferi (Bohatsch, 1880), Thysanoplusia orichalcea (Fabricius, 1775), Utetheisa pulchella (Linnaeus, 1758).