Conservation Biology and Phylogeny of Acherontia atropos (Death's-Head Hawkmoth): Ukrainian Distribution and Illumination Effects

Tetiana Mykytyn; Kateryna-Viktoriia Zdyniuk; Valentyna Semchuk

doi:10.15330/jpnubio.12.106-116

Authors

Tetiana Mykytyn Department of Biology and Ecology Vasyl Stefanyk Сarpathian National University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3458-0520
Kateryna-Viktoriia Zdyniuk Department of Biology and Ecology Vasyl Stefanyk Сarpathian National University
Valentyna Semchuk Department of Biology and Ecology Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15330/jpnubio.12.106-116

Keywords:

Acherontia atropos, distribution range, phylogenetics, species' ecological connections

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of the disappearance of the unique tropical species Acherontia
atropos (Death's-head Hawkmoth) from the fauna of Ukraine. The main focus of this article is the study of the
anatomical and physiological features of this species, its ecological connections, and its distribution in Ukraine
and globally. As a result of investigating the influence of illumination on the ontogenesis of this species, we
can conclude that constant artificial lighting has a positive effect on the larvae (caterpillars). Other ontogenetic
stages could not be investigated, as the larvae perished during pupation, which may have been caused by a
bacterial disease or unfavorable weather conditions during transportation. In the resulting phylogenetic
analysis of Acherontia atropos, we note that all representatives originated from a common ancestor. Acherontia
styx and Acherontia lachesis are sister species, while Acherontia atropos is a collateral lineage within the genus.
The study of the distribution of Acherontia atropos revealed that the species has a large global range, but is rare
in Ukraine.

References

Chapman RF (1998) The insects: Structure and function (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chown SL, Nicolson SW (2004) Insect physiological ecology: Mechanisms and patterns. Oxford University Press.

de Freina J, Witt TJ (2001) Die Bombyces und Sphinges der Westpalaearktis (Insecta, Lepidoptera): Band III. Zygaenidae. Forschung & Wissenschaft Verlag. ISBN 3-926285-04-4.

Domagała P, Mazur MA (2023) Nowe stwierdzenie zmierzchnicy trupiej główki Acherontia atropos (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) na Górnym Śląsku. Acta Entomologica Silesiana, 31(online 008):1–2. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8054572

Donahue JP (1995) [Review of the book The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity]. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 88(4):590. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/88.4.590

Edgar RC (2004) MUSCLE: A multiple sequence alignment method with reduced time and space complexity. BMC Bioinformatics 5(1):113. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-5-113

Edgar RC (2004) MUSCLE: Multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32(5):1792–1797. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkh340

Gouy M, Tannier E, Comte N, Parsons DP (2021) Seaview Version 5: A Multiplatform Software for Multiple Sequence Alignment, Molecular Phylogenetic Analyses, and Tree Reconciliation // Methods in Molecular Biology 2231:241–260. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1036-7_15

Guindon S, Dufayard J-F, Lefort V, Anisimova M, Hordijk W, Gascuel O (2010) New algorithms and methods to estimate maximum-likelihood phylogenies: Assessing the performance of PhyML 3.0. Systematic Biology 59(3):307–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syq010

Holub NP (2012) Physiology of Insects. Kharkiv: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. 271p.

iNaturalist. Acherontia atropos. Website URL: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56530-Acherontia-atropos

Khalaim Y (2022) Catalogue of the heteroceran moths (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Metaheterocera) of Odesa Region of Ukraine. Part 1. Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Brahmaeidae, Lasiocampidae, Thyrididae & Drepanidae. Ukrainian entomofaunistics 13(2):1–28. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7268142

Kitching I (2003) Phylogeny of the death's head hawkmoths, Acherontia [Laspeyres], and related genera (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae: Sphinginae: Acherontiini). Systematic Entomology 28(1):71–88. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3113.2003.00199.x

Lifemap Platform: Website URL: https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/

Moritz RFA, Kirchner WH, Crewe RM (1991) Chemical camouflage of the death's head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos L.) in honeybee colonies. Naturwissenschaften 78:179–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01136209

Moulds MS, Tuttle JP, Lane DA (2020) Hawkmoths of Australia: Identification, Biology and Distribution. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 13. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 46. https://doi.org/10.1071/9781486302826

National Center for Biotechnology Information. GenBank. Website URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/

Pavlovic I, Plavsa N, Tasic А (2024) The importance of Acherontia atropos (Death's head hawk-moth) in the pathology of bee. 7th Uluslararası Dicle Bilimsel Araştırmalar ve İnovasyon Kongresi, Turkey. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385525604

Petzel-Witt S, Wunder C, Pogoda W, Toennes SW, Mebs D (2023) Missed chances? Sequestration and non-sequestration of alkaloids by moths (Lepidoptera). Toxicon 227:107098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107098

Pittaway AR (1993) The hawkmoths of the western Palaearctic. Harley Books, London. ISBN: 0-946589-21-6 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265849457

Puzrina N, Tokarieva O, Vasylyshyn R, Karpuk A, Melnyk O (2022) Monitoring studies of habitats of rare species and tree-dwelling insects in the Emerald Network sites. Scientific Horizons 12(25):41-50. https://doi.org/10.48077/scihor.25(12).2022.41-50

Ruiz de la Hermosa A, Truyols-Henares F, Pinya S (2022) Individual photographic identification based on unique colour pattern of the thorax of Acherontia atropos (Linnaeus, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología 50(197):33–41. https://doi.org/10.57065/shilap.181

SeaView / Manolo Gouy. Website URL: https://doua.prabi.fr/software/seaview

The Red Data Book of Ukraine. Death's-Head Hawkmoth: Website URL:https://redbook-ua.org/item/acherontia-atropos-linnaeus

UCL Culture Blog. Specimen of the Week 194: The Death’s-Head Hawkmoth. сайт URL: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2015/06/29/specimen-of-the-week-194-the-deaths-head-hawkmoth/