ESTABLISHMENT OF A LONG-TERM MONITORING PROGRAM OF MOTHS IN A SUBURBAN AREA OF SOUTH ITALY: FIRST RESULTS OF THE YEARS 2019-2021 (INSECTA LEPIDOPTERA)

Long term monitoring programs (LTMPs) are increasingly demanded for investigating relationships between ecosystem dynamics and climate change. Most of active LTMPs are focussed on abiotic parameters and vegetation, being animals rarely included in continuous samplings. In this paper we described the results of the first two years of a LTMP involving nocturnal macrolepidoptera (including Cossoidea and Hepialoidea) started in 2019 in a suburban area of the Crati Valley, Calabria, South Italy. In the experimental farm of the Research Centre for Forestry and Wood two light traps were settled up, running about every night. During the first two years of monitoring, a total of 12,164 individuals belonging to 297 taxa were counted, showing a community similar to those observed in other Calabrian sites with Mediterranean climate and cultivated areas. The presence of small remnants of riparian forests significantly contributed to the community composition as the observation of hygrophilous species demonstrated. Among them, Xanthia ocellaris and Leucania obsoleta were never found before in the Calabria region. Furthermore, 177 species were added to the poorly investigated Crati Valley fauna. The results presented pose a solid baseline for investigating ecosystem changes of an area submitted to short term anthropic pressures and to long term climate driven changes. Key Words: light traps, riparian forests, bioindicators, climate change, Mediterranean Basin