Lepidoptera on the introduced Robinia pseudoacacia in Slovakia , Central Europe

E. The area is a polygon enclosed by the towns of Bratislava, Komárno, Veľký Krtíš and Myjava. Ten plots were located in the southern part of the study area. Most were located in the remnant of the original floodplain forests that were distributed along the Danube and Morava rivers. The trophic groups of the Lepidoptera larvae found were defined following the system of Brown and Hyman (1986). The zoogeographical distribution of the species follows the arrangement give by Reiprich (2001). The taxonomy and nomenclature of Lepidoptera takes into account the most recent systematic classifications in Europe: Karsholt and Nieukerken 2011, van Nieukerken et al. 2011, Laštůvka and Liška 2011. Voucher specimens (in ethanol) are deposited at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.


Introduction
Robinia pseudoacacia L. (black locust, or false acacia), is a widespread species in its native habitat in southeastern North America.It was introduced to Europe in 1601 (Chapman 1935).The first mention of planting the species in Slovakia dates from 1750, when black locust was planted around the fortress in Komárno in southern Slovakia (Keresztesi 1965).Today, it is widespread throughout western, central, eastern and southern Europe, where it has become a major invasive species with significant impacts to the native plant communities.
Phytophagous insects associated with Robinia pseudoacacia are not well documented for Europe.
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the available information on Lepidoptera that utilize Robinia pseudoacacia as a hostplant.
More recent information includes new unreported data from southwest Slovakia gathered during the growing season of June to October, 2004.Caterpillars were hand collected by beating Robinia pseudoacacia branches from a height of approximately 0.5 to 2 meters above a ground sheet.The study areas consisted of 13 study plots, located between the coordinates 47°46' -48°45' N, 16°58' -19°14' Abstract: A current checklist of Lepidoptera that utilize Robinia pseudoacacia as a hostplant in Slovakia (Central Europe) is provided.The inventory is based on a bibliographic review and new unreported data from southwest Slovakia.The list includes 35 Lepidoptera species belonging to 10 families.Most species are polyphagous and belong to Euro-Siberian faunal community.Two monophagous species, the leaf miners Macrosaccus robiniella and Parectopa robiniella, and the polyphagous pest Hyphantria cunea have subsequently been introduced to Slovakia.
Neptis sappho, in past known as feeding on Lathyrus plants, has been adapted on the introduced Robinia pseudoacacia in Central Europe since the half of the 20th century (Sedláček 1991;Bělín 1999;Jutzeler et al. 2000;Kudrna and Belicek 2005).
Despite the large number of polyphagous species of Lepidoptera and the long period after the introduction of Robinia pseudoacacia in Slovakia, so far only a few native lepidopteran species have been adapted to it.By comparison with the new world, the comprehensive recent inventory of Argentine Lepidoptera by Pastrana (2004) lists only 15 Robinia feeders.