Idaea ochrata ( Scopoli, 1763 )

King, Gareth Edward & González-Estébanez, Félix Javier, 2015, Geometrid larvae of the Alpi Marittime Natural Park (district of Valdieri, Cuneo, Italy), with descriptions of the larvae of two Gnophini Pierce, 1914 (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Geometridae), Zoosystema 37 (4), pp. 621-631 : 623

Idaea ochrata ( Scopoli, 1763)

Phalaena ochrata Scopoli, 1763: 227 , fig. 567.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Three larvae (L5) 27-28.V.2011: Sant’Anna di Valdieri (1.166 m) (emerged: 26.VI.2011: 2 ♂ 1 ♀ (slide code 3742) GEK leg. et det.) found on the soil underneath mats of Rumex conglomeratus ( King & Viejo Montesinos 2012) . Larva L4 28.V.2011 parasitized by Aleiodes crassipes (Thomson, 1892) ( Braconidae : Rogadinae ) ( GEK leg., MRS det.; deposited RMS), a species not yet cited in Italy from the litterature ( Villemant et al. 2015, this issue).

NOTES ON FOOD- PLANT. — King & Viejo Montesinos (2012) mention larvae of the subspecies I. ochrata albida (Zerny, 1936) being taken under mats of Rumex crispus L. and R. acetosa L. in Madrid (central Spain). The present record of larvae collected underneath mats of R. conglomeratus suggests that polygonales are important in the food-plant range of this taxon, although Waring (2004) indicates larvae being collected between small plants of Vicia cracca L. ( Fabaceae ) in southern England.

NOTES ON PARASITOID. — The L 4 larva of this species attacked by Aleiodes crassipes is the first recorded case of a host in the Sterrhinae , although wasps of the genus Aleiodes Wesmael, 1838 do generally attack exposed “macrolepidoterid” larvae ( Shaw & Huddleston 1991; Falcó et al. 1997).

OTHER OBSERVATIONS. — Not previously documented from PNAM ( Baldizzone et al. 2005).