Stigmella irregularis Puplesis, 1994

Navickaitė, Asta, Diškus, Arūnas & Stonis, Jonas R., 2014, An updated checklist of Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) of the Crimea, Sub-Mediterranean SE Europe, Zootaxa 3847 (2), pp. 151-202 : 153

3. Stigmella irregularis Puplesis, 1994

( Figs 9, 10 , 63 )

Host-plants. Pyrus elaeagnifolia Pall. in the Crimea (the first record of the host-plant for the species); in other regions also P. amygdaliformis Vill. (see Laštůvka & Laštůvka 2009).

Type of distribution (chorological group). Sub-Mediterranean-Mediterranean; the species occurs in Italy (Sicilia), Croatia, Crimea, and Greece ( Puplesis 1994, Laštůvka & Laštůvka 2009).

Material examined. CRIMEA: 2♂, 20 km SW Feodosiya, Karadag Reserve, at light, 12–25.viii.1987, leg. Yu. Budashkin; 28♂, the same locality, at light, 23.vii–02.viii.2011, leg. J. R. Stonis, A. Navickaitė & G. Varačinskas; 2♂, the same locality, at light, 23.viii.2011, leg. J. R. Stonis & S. Hill; 12 km E Sudak, Sonyachna Dolyna, empty leaf-mines on Pyrus elaeagnifolia Pall. , fieldwork card no. 5024, 17.vii.2011, leg. A. Diškus & A. Navickaitė; 50 km SE Feodosiya, Sudak, empty leaf-mine on Pyrus elaeagnifolia Pall. , fieldwork card no. 5024, 07.viii.2011, leg. J. R. Stonis, A. Navickaitė & G. Varačinskas; 12 N Alushta, Lavanda, empty leaf-mines on Pyrus elaeagnifolia Pall. , fieldwork card no. 5024, 09.viii.2011, leg. J. R. Stonis, A. Navickaitė & G. Varačinskas.

Remarks. The species is common in the Crimea: widespread and very abundant, particularly in the coastal zone. It was described from the Crimea by R. Puplesis in 1994 on the basis of specimens collected at light. During the fieldwork of 2011, the biology of the Crimean population was studied.

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 15. Leaf-mines of the Nepticulidae species occurring in the Crimea. 8, Stigmella confusella on Betula pendula; 9 – 10, S. irregularis on Pyrus elaeagnifolia; 11, Simplimorpha promissa on Cotinus coggygria; 12, 13, Stigmella freyella on Convolvulus arvensis; 14, S. tiliae on Tilia cordata; 15, S. paliurella on Paliurus spina-christi.

FIGURES 62 – 65. Genitalia of the Nepticulidae occurring in the Crimea. 62, Simplimorpha promissa, male genitalia slide no. AN 511; 63, Stigmella irregularis, male genitalia slide no. AN 538; 64, S. freyella, female genitalia slide No. AN 529; 65, S. tiliae, male genitalia slide No. AN 493.