thaumetopoea_pityocampa_group

Study Extent

Reconsider all available morphological and molecular traits of the species in the T. pityocampa complex, including populations for which both types of data are available, even if they are not from the same individuals. The original material on which T. pityocampa was described is not available and a thorough analysis of the old literature has allowed us to clearly identify the type locality of the species and to propose a neotype for the nominal taxon. The expectation is to delimit the species in the group and to provide traits for their identification.

Sampling

Four species are considered as valid (in chronological order of their description, T. pityocampa, T. wilkinsoni, T. hellenica, and T. mediterranea), one as a subspecies (T. pityocampa orana), and 15 are synonyms of T. pityocampa. Types of all species, subspecies and synonyms were examined, either from museum collections or from publications, spanning over 120 locations in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Whenever possible, populations close to the type locality of taxa were used for both morphological and molecular analyses.

Method steps

1. For male and female specimens, 44 and 31 traits, respectively, showed polymorphism and were used to explore morphological differentiation. The moth samples used in the study were collected with different methods (e.g., rearing from larvae, light/pheromone trapping) following all applicable international and local permitting requirements. There was some variation in the specimen quality and suitability for a comparative analysis of several traits. For this reason, only individuals in a reasonably good preservation condition were used. Male genitalia preparation and female scale extraction from anal tuft followed the method described in Basso et al. (2017a). Geographic coordinates and name of the collection site were recorded for each specimen, to which a unique alphanumeric code was assigned indicating country, locality, and number of specimens.

Review of the species within the Thaumetopoea pityocampa group

1. Thaumetopoea pityocampa
   common name: pine processionary moth rank: species

Circum Mediterranean area + Atlantic coast + central Europe + eastern Europe