First record of Atypophthalmus umbratus (Diptera, Limoniidae) from Central Europe, a species introduced accidentally throughout global trade of exotic plants

By

Jancsó, Boróka-Zsuzsánna
Kárpáti, Marcell
Keresztes, Lujza

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024-12-31

Original Publication

Travaux du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle "Grigore Antipa"

Volume

67

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

279--285

Subjects

Crane flies , exotic plant market , first record , Global trade , introduced species , social media

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

București, România Muzeul Național de Istorie Naturală "Grigore Antipa" -2009

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.67.e117675

 

Abstract

Here we report the first data of the exotic Atypophthalmus umbratus (de Meijere, 1911) from two Central European countries, Romania and Hungary. This is the first time that the presence of an introduced exotic species of Limoniidae (Diptera) has been reported in the area. The above-mentioned species was first observed in Cluj, Romania, on tropical plant specimens (e.g. Alocasia x mortfontanensis ‘Polly’), which we bought from a large store selling tropical plants, from which both male and female specimens were collected. After that, checking some citizen science platforms of entomological interest, we also noticed record of the species in Hungary, based on their conspicuous wing pattern and general habitus. The presence of this accidentally introduced species far from its native tropical environment highlights the growing intensity of the global exotic plant market and the importance of citizen science in early warning systems for biological invasions.