Spialia rosae Hernández-Roldán, DApporto, Dincă, Vicente
publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.12812142 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038F980D-FFC7-843D-D3F2-FC279B38D7FA |
treatment provided by |
Felipe |
scientific name |
Spialia rosae Hernández-Roldán, DApporto, Dincă, Vicente |
status |
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9. Spialia rosae Hernández-Roldán, DApporto, Dincă, Vicente & VilA, 2016
— Bemposta (barragem), Mogadouro, BraganÇa. 350 m a.s.l. MGRS: 29TQF1074. 19.07.2019. One specimen. Eduardo Marabuto leg. Daytime spotting. COI barcoded. ( Fig. 2b View Fig ) .
— Nave de Haver, Almeida, Guarda. 720 m a.s.l. MGRS: 29TPE8686. 22.07.2021. Several specimens, one female ovipositing on Rosa canina . Eduardo Marabuto & Tatiana Moreira leg.
Daytime spotting.
Since Hernández-Roldán et al. (2016) revealed that Iberian populations of Spialia sertorius (Hoffmannsegg, 1804) actually encompass a cryptic species otherwise only distinguishable on ecology, genetics and wing chemical profiles ( Spialia rosae ), an interest arose on where in the Iberian geography would this new species be present. This fostered the appearance of many new records of this new species through mainly two methods: 1) the field-observation of ovipositing females on Rosa spp. or the location of feeding larvae on this host-plant, or 2) the genetic analysis of a DNA fragment with discriminant properties, like the barcode segment (5´) of mitochondrial gene COI. The species was initially found as scattered through some Spanish mountain ranges (Sierra Nevada, La Sagra, Iberian System, E Cantabrian range, Sierra de Guadarrama, Sierra de Gredos and near the Pyrenees) but has since also been found in the Subbaetic ranges and Jaén ( Obregón et al., 2020), eastwards to Cataluña ( Hinojosa et al., 2021) and more lowland sites in northern Iberia ( Montoya Jiménez et al., 2022). Thus, although the species was of possible occurrence in Portugal, informed searching was needed for its location.
As such, the first located specimen was a female found hovering over a bush of Rosa micrantha , but failing to land because of wind conditions. It was collected and barcoded for the first pArt (5’) of COI mtDNA gene (protocols in Marabuto et al., 2020), and confirmed as a first record for Portugal. The concerned specimen has a 100% match (0% p. distance) with the only haplotype found in the centre of Spain, coloured in red in Hinojosa et al. (2021). Moreover, this first record increases the ecological breadth of the species for its location implies the lowest confirmed altitude for the species so far (350 m a.s.l.) and under a strong continental Mediterranean environment at the bottom of the Douro river valley. This observation greatly increases the potential distribution area of the species within the Iberian Peninsula.
The second confirmed record corresponds to a more traditional setting for the specimen, a submontane hill at higher altitude (720 m a.s.l.), where small bushes of Rosa canina hosted a small population of S. rosae , with perching males ready to take flight upon the arrival of any passing butterfly. A female was found egg-laying on one of these roses.
These Portuguese findings considerably expand the known distribution of the species westwards and open many possibilities for a potentially much wider range of the species in Iberia.
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