Is the alien species Clepsis peritana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) settling in Italy?

Abstract

Clepsis peritana (Clemens, 1860) is a native species of North America that has been accidentally introduced in Europe in 80's. This species was mentioned as occurring in Gibraltar, Spain, Denmark and Italy, but no precise collecting data were provided. The presence of the garden tortrix, Clepsis peritana, in Italy is confirmed by a single specimen collected in Central Italy (Umbria region) that is identified by both external characters and dissection of the male genitalia. The study of the Lepidopterofauna in the surroundings of Assisi has already shown the presence of various alien or harmful species such as Coleophora texanella (Chambers, 1878), Zelleria oleastrella (Millière, 1864), Prays oleae (Bernard, 1788), Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859), Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier, 1789), Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) and others (Zerunian & Zilli, 2014; Pinzari et al., 2016). This study is still ongoing but already more than 40 species of moths that are new for the local fauna have been collected. Among these species, here, we report a new record of Clepsis peritana (Clemens, 1860), an alien species native of North America.