On 23 August 2017 I took an unidentified micro-moth at a moth trap at Tramore, Co. Waterford (grid reference S577013). It was tentatively identified as Eucosma tripoliana but, as it occurred away from the saltmarsh habitat of that species, it was retained and passed to Ken Bond who later dissected it and determined it to be a male Eucosma conterminana and new to Ireland. The specimen will be lodged with the National Museum of Ireland, Natural History, Dublin.
In Britain this species is reported to fly from mid-June to September and early October. It inhabits chalk grassland, quarries, gardens, waste ground and roadside verges where it feeds on Great Lettuce Lactuca virosa and Prickly Lettuce Lactuca serriola. Although the latter foodplant is a recent addition to the Irish flora and found not too distant from the site of capture it seems unlikely E. conterminana is resident here, but rather an immigrant, as the days immediately before and after its capture coincided with increased migrant activity, e.g. Etiella zinckenella taken at Tramore on 25 August 2017 was also new to Ireland. E. conterminana is recorded from southern Britain and the Channel Islands and is found from Europe to China.
Tony Bryant and Ken Bond.
Bryant, T. & Bond, K.G.M., 2018. Eucosma conterminana (Guenée, 1845) (Lep.: Tortricidae) new to Ireland. Entomologist’s Record and Journal of Variation 130: 15.
