Elophila nymphaeata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Kravchenko, Vasiliy D., Poltavsky, Alexander, Segerer, Andreas, Speidel, Wolfgang & Müller, Günter C., 2020, An annotated checklist of the Crambidae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea) of Israel, with remarks on their distribution and phenology, Israel Journal of Entomology (Oxford, England) 50 (1), pp. 85-129 : 90

1. Elophila nymphaeata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Records: Amsel (1933); collection of Z. Shoham.

General distribution: Palaearctic. North Africa, all over Europe except polar areas,

Middle East eastward to Mongolia and China.

Distribution in Israel: All over the Mediterranean part. Period of flight in Israel: May–September.

Host plants: Water plants: Potamogeton sp. ( Potamogetonaceae ), Sparganium sp. ( Typhaceae ), Hydrocharis sp. ( Hydrocharitaceae ).

Remarks: The population of the brown china mark in Israel and Lebanon is remarkably differentiated. It is Elophila hederalis Amsel, 1935 that was described as a full species from Palestine, but later erroneously synonymized with Elophila nymphaeata auralis Osthelder, 1935 from Turkey by Amsel (1935) himself. The moth populations in Asia Minor are rather different from those in Israel and Lebanon and quite similar, if not identical, to the nominotypical E. nymphaeata nymphaeata ( Speidel 2002; Goater et al. 2005).