First report of Opogona omoscopa in France
The presence of Opogona omoscopa (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) is reported for the first time in the south of France. At first, this insect was confused with O. sacchari (EPPO A2 List) which is occasionally found under glasshouses, but recent studies have showed that the insect observed was in fact O. omoscopa and that the oldest specimens had been caught in 1998. O. omoscopa has been found in several localities in the coastal area of Alpes-Maritimes (Beaulieu, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Cap-Ferrat, Eze-sur-Mer, Nice, Saint-Blaise), and in palm glasshouses in Arriège. Larvae can bore into the crowns of plants (e.g. palm trees, strawberries, ornamentals) but it is generally considered that they are secondary pests attracted to decaying plant tissues.
O. omoscopa was originally described from Australia and is recorded from most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In Europe, O. omoscopa has been reported mainly in glasshouses (e.g. botanical gardens, nurseries) in connection with imports of tropical plants but sometimes it has also been observed outdoors (e.g. in France, Guernsey, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom). According to the available literature, O. omoscopa has been found in the following European and Mediterranean countries:
EPPO region: Denmark (reported once in 1996), France (since 1998 in the coastal area of Alpes-Maritimes), Gibraltar (many specimens were trapped in 2006), Guernsey (first found in 2005 and again in 2007, probably established), Netherlands (found in 1982 on stems of Plumeria imported from Hawaii), Portugal (mainland, Azores, and Madeira), Sweden (one record from a glasshouse of the Bergius botanical garden in Stockholm), United Kingdom (specimens caught in the wild in the north of England; other records are attributed to an outbreak from a plant nursery in Cornwall).
Sources
Billi F (2009) Opogona omoscopa (Meyrick, 1893), parasite occasionnel des palmiers, espèce nouvelle pour la France (Lep. Tineidae). Oreina no. 6, 13-14.
Buhl O, Falck P, Jorgensen B, Karsholt O, Larsen K, Vilhelmsen F (1997) Records of microlepidoptera from Denmark in 1996 (Lepidoptera). Entomologiske Meddelelser 65(4), 149-158 (abst.).
Corley MFV, Marabuto E, Maravalhas E, Pires P, Cardoso JP (2008) New and interesting Portuguese Lepidoptera records from 2007 (Insecta: Lepidoptera). SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia 36(143), 1-18.
Davis DR (1978) The North American moths of the genera Phaeoses, Opogona, and Oinophila, with a discussion of their supergeneric affinities (Lepidoptera: Tineidae). Smithsonian contributions to zoology no. 282. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington (US), 39 pp.
Franquinho Aguiar AM, Karsholt O (2006) Systematic catalogue of the entomofauna of the Madeira archipelago and Selvagens islands. Lepidoptera. Vol I. Boletim do Museu Municipal do Funchal (História Natural), supl. no. 9, 5-139.
Passos de Carvalho J (1982) Acerca da inventariaçáo dos lepidóteraos dos Açores. Boletim da Sociedade Portuguesa de Entomologia 7 (Supl. A), 169-198.
Sterling PH, Lawlor MP, Costen PDM (2009) Opogona omoscopa (Meyrick, 1893) (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) new to the Channel Islands. Entomologist's Gazette 60(1), 29-35 (abst.).
Svensson I (1998) Remarkable records of Microlepidoptera in Sweden during 1997. Entomologisk Tidskrift 119(1), 47-59 (abst.).
Ulenberg SA, Burger HC, de Goffau LJW, van Rossem (1983) Unusual damage by insects in 1982. Entomologische Berichten 43(11), 164-168 (abst.).
INTERNET
Gould P, Woiwod I, Parker S, Wright S, Bater J, Alderson L (2006) Light-trap newsletter no. 31, December 2006, 9 pp. http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/insect-survey/LightTrapNewsletters/LightTrap31.pdf
Moths and butterflies of Guernsey 2008. La Société Guernesiaise. http://www.societe.org.gg/sections/entomology/entomology_2008.pdf
Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska riskmuseet; Stockholm). http://www2.nrm.se/en/svenska_fjarilar/o/opogona_omoscopa.html