An annotated checklist of the Crambidae of the region of Murcia (Spain) with new records, distribution and biological data (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea, Crambidae)

Abstract Background The Murcia Region (osouth-eastern Iberian Peninsula) has a great diversity of Lepidopteran fauna, as a zoogeographical crossroads and biodiversity hotspot with more than 850 butterflies and moth species recorded. New information In the present paper, based on an examination of museum specimens, published records and new samples, a comprehensive and critical species list of Crambidae moths (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) is synthesised. In total, 8 subfamilies, 50 genera and 106 species have been recorded and these are listed along with their collection, literature references and biological data including chorotype, voltinism and the flight period in the study area. The subfamilies are as follows: Acentropinae, Crambinae, Glaphyriinae, Lathrotelinae, Odontiinae, Pyraustinae, Scopariinae and Spilomelinae. Forty nine species are here newly recorded for the Murcia Region.


Introduction
The Crambidae, belonging to the superfamily Pyraloidea, are mainly nocturnal micromoths (Microlepidoptera) with an estimated 10,100 named species worldwide, of which the European fauna is represented by ca. 490 species (Leraut 2012). In the Iberian Peninsula, 256 species have been recorded (Vives-Moreno 2014). The two main evolutionary lineages within Pyraloidea, Pyralidae and Crambidae, are monophyletically distinguished by the morphology of tympanal organs (Slamka 2008, Minet 1982, Minet 1983. Crambidae are characterised by the forewing venation with R5 free and an oval sclerotisation costad on base of vein A ; presence of a paired tympanal organs situated ventrally in the second abdominal segment with tympanum and conjunctivum at an obtuse angle, tympanal chamber cephalad open and accessory tympana in metathorax; lobulus and praecinctorium are present; male genitalia without uncus arms; and segment A8 of larvae without sclerotised ring around base of seta SD1 (Goater et al. 2005, Slamka 2008).
The Crambidae of Europe have been relatively well studied although there is a need for further investigation on habitus and distribution. The Southern European and especially Iberian species are poorly recorded and more precise data are necessary for the production of distribution maps.
The Region of Murcia has a great diversity of Lepidopteran fauna, as a zoogeographical crossroads and biodiversity hotspot, with more than 850 butterfly and moth species (Ortiz et al. 2016, unpublished data). The study area is located in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula with an area of 11,313 km extending along the eastern end of the Betic Cordilleras, with ca. 27% of its surface corresponding to mountainous reliefs (Los Obispos peak, at 2,017 m a.s.l. as the highest elevation), 38% interior depressions and valleys and the remaining 35% plateaus and coastal plains. This variety of landscapes contributes to a great diversity of Lepidopteran fauna. The Region comprises areas of xeric-mediterranean and desertic climate, with high temperatures and low rainfall, making this territory one of the warmest and driest in Europe.
Temperature and precipitation are climatic factors which have a direct impact on the diversity and distribution of plants and the physiognomy of the plant landscape and are fundamental to the interpretation of the lepidopteran fauna of the Murcia Region.
Considering various bioclimatic approaches relative to temperature (thermotypes) and rainfall (ombrotypes), four different bioclimatic areas can be recognised according to Alcaraz et al. (2008): thermo-, meso-, supra-and oromediterranean (Fig. 1). Climatic and geological interactions differentiate a great variety of habitats as thermoxerophylic on the sunny slopes of the mountains and, on the other hand, as mesophylic in depressions or very dark exposures, in riparian zones amongst halophytic vegetation and on sandbanks and dunes from the inland to the coastal areas along with agricultural crops and anthropophilic areas. Altogether, they make up ten habitats and 47 special terrestrial conservation areas of community importance (Alcaraz et al. 2008).
This present checklist is intended to update the recorded species and to facilitate access to the most recent data on the Crambidae family from the Murcia Region (south-eastern Iberian Peninsula) for taxonomists providing data about distribution, chorology, phenology and voltinism.

Materials and methods
The list contains all species of Crambidae collected by the authors until the end of 2020, along with the material deposited in the private collections of J.A. de la Calle, F. Lencina, F. Albert and F. Arcas. It also includes all of those records previously referenced in the bibliography.
Black and actinic (6 and 15 W) Heath traps, 125 W Robinson traps, 125 W mercury vapour traps and 4 W LED light traps were used for nocturnal sampling. Catches taken during daytime and in the urban environment (street lighting) are also included. All these sampling points are located within the study area and, especially, in the natural protected areas like the mountainous Parks of Sierra Espuña, Sierra de la Pila, El Valle and Carrascoy, etc. and the coastal Parks of Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas and Peña del Águila, Salinas and Arenales de San Pedro del Pinatar, etc.

Notes on the checklist
The subfamilies are systematically ordered and identified, based on the most recent classification of Crambidae by Léger et al. (2020), Slamka (2008) and Vives-Moreno (2014) with minor modifications. The genera and species are listed under their subfamilies and are also ordered systematically, together with collection data (sampling localities, altitude, decimal coordinates, date, number of specimens). In addition, for each species, related references and biological data are provided including chorotype, voltinism and the flight period in the study area indicated by months in Roman numerals. All studied specimens are deposited in the entomological collection in the Zoology Department of Murcia University (Spain) and in the collections of Francisco Lencina, Fernando Albert and Francisco Arcas. The occurrence data can be accessed at DOI: https://doi.org/10.15470/ kffxc0 Goater et al. (2005), Slamka (2006), Slamka (2008), Slamka (2013) and Leraut (2012) were consulted to obtain the information on biology, voltinism and geographical distribution of the species, while Calle (1982) and Varga (2010) were consulted for biogeographic criteria.
Species richness varies substantially amongst the different bioclimatic areas of the Murcia Region (Fig. 1). The Thermomediterranean area has the most diverse Crambidae fauna with 69 species recorded, followed by the Mesomediterranean area with 59 species, while the Supra-and Oromediteranean areas appear to be less diverse with 29 species Table 1.
Numbers and percentages of known genera and species recorded for each subfamily in Murcia Region.
( Table 2). In each of these areas, 29 species are unique in the Thermo-, 12 in Meso-and 9 in Supra-and Oromediterranean areas, while 38 species were recorded in two areas and 10 in the three studied areas. Approximately half of the species can be considered specialists in a given bioclimatic area, while the other 50% can be considered as opportunists of different types of vegetation that characterise each of the bioclimatic areas. The detailed data for the bioclimatic areas of Crambidae in the Murcia Region are summarised in Table 2.
Chorological analysis for the family Crambidae in the Region of Murcia showed that the Mediterranean chorotype, including the endemic Pediasia ribbeellus (Caradja), is the most abundant with 56.6% of the total, which is consistent with the geographical position of the study area. Amongst these, the Asiatic-Mediterranean elements (34.9%) are more frequent than the Atlanto-Mediterranean elements (21.7%). On the other hand, the elements of wide distribution, such as the Eurasiatic, Holarctic and Palaearctic (26.4%), are the most common in the mountainous biotopes of the centre and north of the study area, while the tropical and cosmopolitan species (17.0%) have their origin mainly in Africa. The presence of opportunistic species is due to the agricultural crop fields that dominate a part of the Murcian territory.
Regarding the biology of the species, the environmental conditions of the study area, which affect the availability of trophic resources for reproduction, suggest that most of the species are bivoltins (47.2%) and univoltins (47.2%), while the rest are polyvoltins (5.7%). Most of the recorded species feed on plant species belonging to the Brassicaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Scrophulariaceae and Amaranthaceae families, amongst others, although the species of the Crambinae subfamily feed on grasses (Poaceae). The most particular cases are those related to the genus Eudonia which feed on lichens and the species Euchromius ocellea, E. cambridgei and Dolicharthria bruguieralis which feed on plant detritus. Some species, such as Palpita vitrealis, Ostrinia nubilalis and Nomophila noctuella, must be controlled since they are agricultural crop pests. Finally, the host plants of 34.0% of species are unknown, so it will be necessary to carry out complementary studies to further biological understanding.