Infurcitinea ignicomella (Lepidoptera: Tineidae, Meessiinae), new to the Belgian fauna DanSlootmaekers Abstract. OnJune 17th, 2012 a singlespecimen ofInfurcitineaignicomella (Zeiler, 1852) was caught in a lighttrap at Kalmthout (prov. Antwerp, Belgium). This is the first record ofthis species for Belgium. Information on the geographical distributionandbiologyofthespeciesisprovidedaswellasabriefcomparisonwiththethreeotherBelgianrepresentativesof theMeesiinaesubfamily. Samenvatting.Infurcitineaignicomella(Lepidoptera:Tineidae,Meessiinae),nieuwesoortvoordeBelgischefauna Op17juni2012werdeenenkelexemplaarvanInfurcitineaignicomella(Zeiler,1852)meteenlichtvalgevangenteKalmthout (prov.Antwerpen,België).HetisdeeerstekeerdatdezesoortinBelgiëwerdwaargenomen.Informatieoverdegeografische verspreidingendebiologiewordtgegevenendesoortwordtvergelekenmetdedrieandereMeessiinaesoortendieinBelgië voorkomen. Résumé.Infurcitineaignicomella(Lepidoptera:Tineidae,Meesiinae),espècenouvellepourlafaunebeige Le17juin2012unseulexemplaired'Infurcitnieaignicomella(Zeiler, 1852)futcapturédansun piègelumineuxa Kalmthout (prov. d'Anvers, Belgique). II s'agit de la première mention de cette espèce en Belgique. Des informations concernant la distribution géographique et la biologiede l'espècesontfournies, et l'espèce estcomparéeauxtroisautres représentants beigesdelasous-familledesMeessiinae. Keywords:Infurcitineaignicomella-Faunistics-Lepidoptera-Newrecord-Belgium. Slootmaekers,D.:Kijkuitstraat17,2920Kalmthout,[email protected] Introduction Taxonomy On June 17th, 2012 a moth trapping night was organizedatKalmthout(prov.Antwerp, Belgium)aspart TheTineidae are a ratherlarge, cosmopolitan family of the moth inventory project of Grenspark De Zoom- in which about 3000 species are described. Atypical for KalmthoutseHeide.Weatherconditionsweresuboptimal Lepidoptera larvae, they do not consume live plant formothtrappingsinceitwasarelativelycoldnightwith material, but feed on detritus, fungi, lichen or keratine minimaaround 12°C,amildbreezeof2-3 Bft.comingin (Scoble 1992). I. ignicomella belongs to the Meessiinae from South/South-West. The sky remained cloudy but subfamily, which is one of the larger fungus moth dry. subfamilies. However, only three species of this subfamilyarefoundinBelgium. Eudarciapagenstecherella(Hübner,1822),averyrare species in Belgium ofwhichthe larva lives in a portable case and feeds on lichens or algae growing on rocks in shadow places. The adults fly in one generation a year andhavebeenobservedfromlateMaythroughlateJuly. Stenoptinea cyaneimarmorella (Millière, 1854) is a very rare and local species in Belgium. The larva lives on lichens on Prunus, or its rotten wood. The adults have been observedfrom late Maythrough earlySeptember. Observations are mentioned in Antwerp, Brabant, HenegouwenandNamen. The 76-species rich genus Infurcitinea was hitherto represented in Belgium only by Infurcitinea argentimaculella (Stainton, 1849) of which the only verified records are known from the provinces of Figure 1. Infurcitinea ignicomella (Zeiler, 1852) at Kalmthout Antwerp and Brabant and are dated before 1980 (De (Antwerpen,België)17.vi.2012 (Photo:DanSlootmaekers). Prins & Steeman 2012). There are no known recent recordsofI.argentimaculellainBelgium. A single, fresh specimen of Infurcitinea ignicomella Distribution (Zeiler, 1852) (fig.1)wastrapped in askinner-type moth trap using a 250W mercury vapour light bulb. The trap Throughout Europe observations of I. ignicomella was positioned along the border between Scots Pine have been recorded. This is the first record for the forest and a large, old dune patch where ample open Belgian fauna, although the species is considered to be sand remains but vast areas are covered by short locally common in the Netherlands (Stichting heathlandvegetation(Natuurpunt2012). Natuurinformatiie 2012). In NL the species has ISSN0771-5277 Phegea41(1)01.iii.2013:17 historically been noted on most of the inland sandy Biology areas.Therecentsightings(after2000)areconcentrated around heathland areas in the Provinces ofGelderland, I. ignicomella is considered to rely on matter from Friesland and Drenthe. The nearest mention of the animal origin, such as keratin, in its larval stage, as do speciesinthe Netherlands, in a heathlandarea nearthe some othermembers oftheTineidaefamily.The adults city of Bergen-Op-Zoom in 1987 (Stichting ofthespeciesflyfromlateMaythroughearlyAugust. Natuurinformatie2012,Telmee2012), isonly 10-15 km awayfromtheBelgianobservation. Characteristics As most Tineidae, the species is small at only 8.0- 11.0mm and can be confused with members of the generaTriaxomeraandNemapogon.Theforewinghasan indistinct grey-brown ground colour, covered with Figure 2. Infurcitinea ignicomella (Zeiler, 1852), mounted specimen scattered white scales. Faint spots can be seen on the (stichtingTinea). costal and terminal sides of the forewings of fresh individuals (fig. 2). These lighter patches are poorly Acknowledgements defined, are paler than the ground colour (Kuchlein 1993) and can be seen as a set of three bands that Thanks to fellow monitors Joris Eist, Régis Nossent connectdorsalandcostalsideoftheforewing.Thehead and Stijn Baeten. Thanks to Chris Steeman and Luc De ismorenotableduetothedensecoverofochreoushairs Bruynfordirectionsonwritingthearticle. onfronsandvertex. Literature DePrinsW.&SteemanC.2012.CatalogueoftheLepidopteraofBelgium.—www.phegea.org[accessedon 20November2012], KuchleinJ.H.1993.Dekleinevlinders;handboekvoordefaunistiekvandeNederlandseMicrolepidoptera.—Pudoc,Wageningen, 715pp. — Natuurpunt2012.Zandkroeskopje.Infurcitineaignicomella. www.waarnemingen.be[accessedon22November2012], ScobleM.J.1992.TheLepidoptera.Form,functionanddiversity.—NaturalHistoryMuseumPublications,OxfordUniversityPress, 404pp. — Stichting Natuurinformatie 2012. Zandkroeskopje. Infurcitineaignicomella. www.waarneming.ne [accessed on 22 November Telm2e0e122]0,12.Zandkroeskopje.Infurcitineaignicomella.—www.telmee.nl[accessedon22November2012]. Phegea41(1)01.iii.2013:18 ISSN0771-5277