HR. J. I'.NI. NAT. I IIS I., 7: IW4 



MCZ 

 LIBRARY 



PARDASENA VIRGULANA (MABILLE,) o Q 

 (LEPIDOPTERA: N OCT HI DAK), A SPK( lis NOT 

 PREVIOUSLY FOUND IN THE WILD IN BRUMS 



Martin R. Honey 



Department of Entomology , The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, I ond< > 



and Mark Sterling 



9 Upper Heath Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire A LI 4DN. 



On 27. ix. 1992 Mark Sterling joined John Phillips and David Young on a trip to search 

 for Gortyna borelii lunata (Frey.) at a site on the edge of Hamford Water near Thorpe 

 le Soken in Essex. A number of lights were run at the site, including a 15-watt actinic, 

 which attracted a small noctuid which was initially misidentified as Nycteola revayana 

 (Scop.). On closer inspection it had several unusual features, including bright white hind 

 wings and hind legs. The specimen was therefore taken to the Natural History Museum 

 where it was determined by Martin Honey as a female Pardasena virgulana (Mabille). 



This species was originally described by Mabille (1880: xvii) as Sarrothripa virgulana 

 and has also been known as Giaura nigriscripta Hampson. The species is listed by 

 Hampson (1912: 245) and Gaede (1935: 181) as occurring in South and East Africa 

 and Madagascar but there are specimens in the Natural History Museum collection 

 from most tropical and non-tropical areas of Africa, including North Africa and 

 certain Middle Eastern States, Cameroun, Comoro Islands, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, 

 Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra 

 Leone, South Africa, Southern Yemen, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 



There is little published information on the natural foodplants of this species but 

 there are specimens in the Natural History Museum collections reared from pigeon 

 pea, Cajanus cajan (L.) (Leguminosae), and Lantana, Lantana camara (L.) 

 (Verbenaceae). Larvae have also been previously imported into Britain on okra, 

 Abelmoschus escultentus (L.) (Malvaceae) from Cyprus and on peas from East Africa. 

 The latter were successfully reared at the M.A.F.F. laboratories at Harpenden. With 

 the proximity of the collecting site to both Felixstowe and Harwich the most likely 

 explanation for its occurrence in Britain is as a vagrant imported on a ship. 



Fig. 1. Pardasena virgulana. This specimen was photographed at the 1993 BENHS \nnual 

 Exhibition and appears in colour on Plate II, Figure 3, Br. J. Ent. Sat. Hist. L994; 7(3). 



