Remarkable records of Macrolepidoptera in Sweden 1994

This is the 22nd consecutive annual report on interesting finds and provincial records of Macrolepidoptera in Sweden. Due to the limited number of new provincial records and an increasing demand for information on Lepidoptera for faunal conservation purposes, this list also gives a brief summary of the present status for some of the endangered lepidopteran species in Sweden. There is still a most unfortunate lack of information about many of these species. Hopefully, this material will be accumulated by lepidopterologists before these species have become extinct in Sweden. Presently, the Swedish Threatened Species Unit is compiling current knowledge on red listed species and therefore, there is an increasing need to obtain all available data. After a disobliging spring and early summer, extreme summer warmth arrived at the end of June and remained for more than a month, resulting in the hottest July in the southern half of Sweden since 1910. However, the numbers of individuals of most Macrolepidoptera species were distinctly lower than average, presumably due to the cool summer and extremely cold autumn 1993. The most striking find this season was the noctuid moth Xestia atrata, which is new not only to Sweden but also to Europe. This species is previously known from Canada, Alaska and eastern Siberia. Among other interesting records from the Swedish fauna were Acerbia alpina which for the first time was found in numbers, Callimorpha dominula which appears to be colonizing new sites in southernmost Sweden and Xestia borealis which were found on a new, somewhat more southerly habitat. From the end of July until almost the end of September weather conditions favourable for migrating Lepidoptera recurrently occurred over southern Sweden, bringing a number of rare migrant species such as: Orthonama obstipata, Agrius convolvuli, Macroglossum stellatarum, Daphnis nerii, Nycteola asiatica, Spodoptera exigua. A migration wave of Lymantria dispar the last days in July and beginning of August and a mass migration of Autographa gamma in August were also observed. A number of other interesting species were captured during this period e g: Pontia daplidice, Colias crocea, Araschnia levana, Drepana binaria, Cyclophora porata, Scopula marginepunctata and Lithosia quadra that might have been either migrants or natives. The finding of X. atrata brings the total number of Macrolepidoptera found in Sweden up to 1060. The classification is according to Catalogus Lepidopteroru