POECILOCAMPA ALPINA CANENSIS (MILLIÈRE, 1876)
(LEPIDOPTERA: LASIOCAMPIDAE), A NEW MEMBER 
OF THE MOTH FAUNA OF CROATIA
Toni Koren1, Matea MarTinović2 & Mladen Kučinić3
1 association Hyla, Zagreb, Croatia, association Hyla, Zagreb, Croatia,
toni.koren@hhdhyla.hr*
2 Dubrovnik natural History Museum, androvićeva 1, 
Hr-20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia, 
matea.martinovic@pmd.hr
3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, university of Zagreb, Zagreb,
Croatia, kucinic@biol.pmf.hr
*Corresponding author
Abstract – The first records of Poecilocampa alpina canensis in Croatia are present-
ed. The species was recorded at two localities in southern Dalmatia, Pobrežje and
nature park Biokovo. This is a montane species active late in the year, with a rather
low number of published records in western europe. The closest populations to the
ones from Croatia are from Slovenia and Montenegro. This is the 21st species of
Lasiocampidae species in the fauna of Croatia.
KeyworDS: distribution, lappet moths, Mt. Biokovo, southern Dalmatia
Izvleček – POECILOCAMPA ALPINA CANENSIS (MiLLiÈre, 1876) (LePi-
DoPTera: LaSioCaMPiDae), nov čLan HrvaŠKe Favne nočniH
MeTuLJev
Prispevek poroča o prvi najdbi vrste Poecilocampa alpina canensis na Hrvaškem.
vrsta je zabeležena na dveh nahajališčih v južni Dalmaciji, Pobrežju in v Krajinskem
parku Biokovo. To je gorska vrsta, aktivna pozno jeseni. Doslej je znanih le manjše
število objavljenih podatkov v zahodni evropi, saj status vrste že ni povsem razjas-
njen. najdbam iz Hrvaške sta najbližja Slovenija in črna gora. To je 21. vrsta vrste
Lasiocampidae v favni Hrvaške. 
KLJučne BeSeDe: razširjenost, kokljice, Biokovo, južna Dalmacija
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Introduction
The moths of the family Lasiocampidae are commonly known as eggars, snout
moths, or lappet moths. The members of this family are medium to large moths, with
a hairy body and a rather robust appearance. Many species have a good mimicry and
during the day, while resting, resemble leaves or tree bark. Lappet moths are mostly
active during the night, with few exceptions of daytime wandering males during the
breeding season (Macek et al. 2007). The main distribution of this family is in trop-
ical areas, but they live worldwide (regie et al., 2000). 
This cosmopolite family comprises more than 1500 species classified into 150
genera (Leraut 2006). in europe, 38 species have been recorded so far (Leraut 2006)
while in Croatia so far 20 species are known to occur (Koren 2012).
Here we present the first records of the 21st species for the fauna of Croatia,
Poecilocampa alpina (Frey & wullschlegel, 1874).
Materials and methods
Specimens were collected using two different methods. one was a 6 w 12 v
Portable Heath Moth Trap powered by a 12 v battery and left on the locality during
the whole night and then checked in the morning. The second was light tent consist-
ing of a white sheet and a 300 w mercury lamp connected to a Honda 1000 w aggre-
gate. voucher specimens are deposited in the Croatian natural History Museum in
Zagreb (CnHM) under the collection Kučinić as well in the private
Lepidopterological collection Koren.
Results and discussion
in 2019 a single Poecilocampa sp. specimen was collected near Pobrežje, south-
ern Croatia. The specimen was immediately identified as P. alpina and deemed to
Acta entomologica slovenica, 30 (2), 2022
116
Fig. 1: Specimens of Poecilocampa alpina canensis from Croatia. a) Biokovo,
“Kapelica”, 29.Xi.1995, b) Pobrežje, 29.Xii.2019. Photo: T. Koren.
represent a new species in the Croatian moth fauna according to Koren (2012). in the
communication with the third author, it was revealed that he also collected this
species at Mt. Biokovo in 1995 (Fig. 1), but the results were not yet published. The
localities (Fig. 2) on which the specimens were collected are (coordinates are given
in wGS84 coordinate system):
Splitsko-dalmatinska county, nature park Biokovo, Mt. Biokovo, near the chapel
(“Kod Kapelice” on the label on the specimens), pastures and grasslands,
43°15'33.6" n 17°06'18.9"e, 865 m a.s.l., 29.Xi.1995., 3 males, leg. M. Kučinić, col-
lected with light tents.
Dubrovačko-neretvanska county, Pobrežje, deciduous forest fragments surround-
ed by karstic grasslands (Fig. 3), 42°41'22.5"n 18°04'39.9"e; 368 m a.s.l.
29.Xii.2019., 1 male, leg. M. Martinović, collected with a Portable Heath Moth
Trap.
accordingly, this species is now known from two localities in Croatia. The
Lasiocampidae family is one of only several families in Croatia with an existing
checklist (Koren, 2012), aside from arctiinae, Crambidae & Pyralidae (Kučinić et al.
1997, 2014; Gumhalter 2019). while the checklist was published ten years ago, in
the published literature no additional records of P. alpina for Croatia were found.
accordingly, this is the 21st Lasiocampidae species recorded in the country.
Toni Koren, Matea Martinoviå, Mladen Kuœiniå: Poecilocampa alpina canensis (Millière, 1876) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)
117
Fig. 2: Distribution of Poecilocampa alpina canensis in Croatia. 1. Mt. Biokovo,
2. Pobrežje.
The species/subspecies status of this taxon is still not solved. Leraut (2006)
revised the genus and placed P. alpina to be a subspecies of Poecilocampa populi
(Linnaeus, 1758); P. populi alpina Frey & wullschlegel, 1874. Leraut (2006) also
treated the italian and Balkan populations as a separate species, Poecilocampa
canensis (Millière, 1876). This is however not widely accepted and the populations
from western europe are usually attributed to as Poecilocampa alpina canensis
(Millière, 1876) (Beshkov & nahirnić 2016, 2019) which is also accepted in this
work. a revision based on the genetic of this species group would be needed. we
tried to Dna barcode the specimen from Pobrežje, but unfortunately, we were not
successful in obtaining viable Dna. in the future the status of this taxon may addi-
tionally change after Dna analysis and attribute the populations from the Balkan
peninsula to P. alpina or P. populi, but for now the taxon reported here is threated as
Poecilocampa alpina canensis (Millière, 1876) based on the external morphology as
is the case in other recent works (Beshkov & nahirnić 2016, 2019).
Poecilocampa alpina canensis is distributed across France, italy, and the Balkan
peninsula (Leraut 2006; Beshkov & nahirnić 2016, 2019). Still, the distribution is
not well known, especially in the western part of the Balkan peninsula. The species
is known from Slovenia from alpine and Primorska regions (Carnelutti 1992). no
Acta entomologica slovenica, 30 (2), 2022
118
Fig. 3. Habitat of Poecilocampa alpina canensis from Pobrežje. Photo: M.
Martinović.
records could be found for Bosnia & Herzegovina (rebel 1904; Lelo 2004) while a
single record exists for Montenegro (vasić et al. 1990). it is known from Serbia from
new surveys and some questionable historical records (see Beshkov & nahirnić
2016). recently this species was recorded for the first time in albania (Beshkov &
nahirnić 2019, 2020).
Poecilocampa alpina canensis inhabits montane areas, but it can be recorded also
at lower altitudes, e.g. at 665 m in albania Qafa e Mollës, (Beshkov & nahirnić
2019). The record from Pobrežje is even lower, located at around 368 m a.s.l. which
is rather unusual for this species. However, the area around Dubrovnik is rather inter-
esting as even some other, usually montane species like Dasypolia ferdinandi rühl,
1892 have been recorded in the area (Mladinov 1975).
The records of P. alpina canensis from Croatia indicate that the species is more
widely distributed, but insufficiently known. Probably the reason for the limited
number of records is the late flight season of the species which is active usually in
late autumn and winter, from october to January, in the time of the year when not a
lot of fieldwork is usually done, especially at the higher altitudes. in any case, the
findings of this species can be expected at some other sites in Croatia, but also in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, although according to our research, especially in the area
of Biokovo P. alpina canensis belongs to a rare species. as for all other members of
the Lasiocampidae family, Croatian names were proposed (Koren 2012), we propose
a name also for this species. Due to its time of occurrence, mostly winter, we propose
the name to be “zimska kvočka”, meaning winter egger.
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Received / Prejeto: 12. 2. 2022
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