Tineidae Latreille, 1810 includes about 119 species in Italy. Despite their economic and ecological importance, this family remains poorly studied in peninsular Italy, primarily due to taxonomic impediment. The aims of this paper were to improve molecular reference libraries to overcome the taxonomic impediment and to increase the knowledge of Tineidae in South Italian forests. The examined material was collected from the southernmost tip of peninsular Italy. A total of 85 specimens were DNA barcoded, recovering 74 sequences and 27 Barcode Index Numbers of which three are new to the Barcode of Life Data system. 66 specimens were assigned to 24 species. 67% of these identified species represent new records for parts of Italy or for the entire country. Notably, Pelecystola fraudulentella (Zeller, 1852) is new for Italy, while Haplotinea insectella (Fabricius, 1794), Reisserita relicinella (Herrich-Schäffer, 1853), Stenoptinea cyaneimarmorella (Millière, 1854), Monopis neglecta Šumpich & Liška, 2011, and Triaxomera fulvimitrella (Sodoffsky, 1830) are new for South Italy. Additionally, 10 species are new for the Calabria region. The most interesting cases concern eight specimens belonging to the genera Nemapogon Schrank, 1802 and Neurothaumasia Le Marchand, 1934. These specimens exhibited genetic distance ranging of 3.74% and 6.73% respectively from their nearest neighbors and morphology of genitalia cannot help to assign them to a known species. Further taxonomic studies are needed to ascertain their taxonomy.

The family Tineidae Latreille, 1810 belongs to the superfamily Tineoidea Latreille, 1810 which includes a variable number of families depending on different systematic assessments (Mutanen et al. 2010; Sohn et al. 2013; Regier et al. 2015). European Tineidae includes approximately 285 species (Gaedike 2015, 2019), a number that continues to grow due to the ongoing description of new species, primarily in Mediterranean countries (Huemer et al. 2023). In Italy the first national checklist (Gaedike et al. 1995) listed 110 species, whereas the most recent European checklist (Gaedike 2015, 2019) includes 119 species, reflecting an increase of 9 species over a span of 25 years.

In recent decades, the study of Tineidae in Italy has been limited, with most records included in comprehensive faunistic studies on Lepidoptera (Baldizzone 2004; Pinzari et al. 2010, 2013; Baldizzone et al. 2013; Huemer and Wieser 2023). The peninsular territory has been poorly investigated, with only 49 species recorded by Gaedike et al. (1995), and knowledge is even more limited for the southernmost regions of Italy. Although individual records of tineids are commonly found in applied research due to the economic importance of this family as pests of food storage, cultural heritage, and clothing (Plarre and Krüger-Carstensen 2011; Trematerra 2012; Trematerra and Pinniger 2018), taxonomic or faunistic studies specifically focused on Tineidae are rare. For instance, Opogona sacchari (Bojer, 1856), a crop pest not previously listed for Italy in the aforementioned checklists, was discovered in a greenhouse near Naples during preliminary observations on its sexual pheromone (Rotundo and Tremblay 1982). On the other hand, although few faunistic or taxonomic studies have included Tineidae records (Gaedike and Mally 2011; Bassi and Nel 2015; Bonelli et al. 2021), a one-week survey of microlepidoptera in the Aspromonte National Park and its surroundings was sufficient to identify nine species, some of which represented faunistic novelties at both regional and national levels (Baldizzone and Scalercio 2018).

The importance of Tineidae, beyond their well-known economic significance, also lies in their high potential as bioindicators of forested habitats (Jonsell and Nordlander 2002). Most of their larvae are trophically associated with fungi, lichens, bird nests, deadwood, and decaying organic matter in general (Gaedike 2015, 2019; Jaworski 2018), displaying strong functional relationships with microhabitats recognized as indicators of forest management (Asbeck et al. 2021). However, taxonomic impediments have significantly limited their use as indicators due to their small size and the similar habitus of several species.

The aims of this paper were: (1) to improve the basic knowledge of Tineidae in South Italian forests; (2) to highlight cases requiring further taxonomic studies; and (3) to improve molecular reference libraries to overcome the taxonomic impediment associated to Tineidae as bioindicators.

The examined materials were primarily collected in the Calabria region, the southernmost tip of Peninsular Italy, during surveys conducted mainly in well-preserved mountainous forest habitats and highly fragmented plain forests. Specifically, the surveys that included the collection of Tineidae specimens targeted the following habitats (see references for further details): retrodunal areas (Bonelli et al. 2021), olive groves with remnants of Mediterranean shrubs and riparian forests (Zucco et al. 2024), urban and suburban areas (Zucco and Scalercio 2023), fragmented thermophilous oak woodlands (Scalercio 2022), chestnut woodlots (Greco et al. 2018), maple forests (Greco et al. 2019), mixed deciduous-conifers forests (Infusino et al. 2017a), pine forests (Scalercio and Greco 2018), mixed beech-pine forests (Scalercio 2020), and beech forests (Infusino and Scalercio 2018; Scalercio et al. 2022).

Standardised samplings were conducted using UV LED light traps (Infusino et al. 2017b), primarily targeting macromoths. However, voucher specimens of microlepidoptera morphospecies were also preserved for future studies. Additionally, some specimens were opportunistically collected from other light sources or during daytime observations. The collected Tineidae specimens were subsequently subjected to barcode analysis using SMRT Sequencing on PacBio Sequel platform and SPRI DNA Extraction at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Canada. A total of 85 specimens were analyzed and stored in the Lepidoptera collection of the Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Rende, Italy. The resulting sequences were compared with those available in the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) database, utilising the identification engine and selecting the option “All barcode records on BOLD”. As a result, an identification was provided along with a percentage of similarity to the deposited sequences. The specimens were named after dissection of genitalia and following a careful review of the tree-based identification (BOLD TaxonID tree), which was conducted using trees built with the Kimura-2 parameter as distance model and considering the hundred most similar sequences. Recovered sequences were automatically assigned to a Barcode Index Number (BIN), an online framework that clusters barcode sequences algorithmically, typically corresponding to a species (Hausmann et al. 2013). Additionally, a Nearest Neighbour search was conducted to identify the most similar taxonomic unit associated with a BIN, further enhancing the taxonomic assessment of our specimens.

Finally, a cross-check of wing patterns with available iconography (Gaedike 2015, 2019) was performed, and a list of taxa derived from molecular analysis and morphological validations was compiled, adhering to the nomenclature proposed by Gaedike (2015, 2019).

This paper represents the largest study ever carried out on South Italian Tineidae, integrating molecular and morphological techniques for their identification. We found 24 species, some of which of high faunistic interest, improving the DNA barcoding library of this family with molecular data gathered from an under-investigated European region.

The Tineidae records presented in this paper are by-catches of surveys aimed at describing macromoth communities of forests. As a result, the habitus of some specimens was not always perfectly preserved since most samples were collected using light traps, non-phototactic species were not sampled, and quantitative data are lacking. However, we discovered several faunistic novelties, and DNA barcoding not only facilitated the specimen identification, but also highlighted the presence of taxa that require further taxonomic investigation. The distribution of the sampling sites also shows that large areas of the region remain unsampled and deserve future investigation (Fig. 35). In the future, improving the taxonomy of this group could help to pave the way for using Tineidae as forest bioindicators.

Figure 35. 

Map of the sampling sites. Maps Data: Google, © 2025 SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO Image Landsat / Copernicus.

We thank Carlo di Marco, Silvia Greco, and Marco Infusino for helping us in field activities. We also thank Pollino National Park and Sila National Park for the collecting permissions. This study was supported by the Societas Europaea Lepidopterologica (SEL), which covered the publication fee under its fee waiver program. We sincerely thank the SEL for this support. This work was funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n.3175 of 18 December 2021 of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU; Project code CN_00000033, Concession Decree No. 1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP83D21014060006, Project title “National Biodiversity Future Center - NBFC”, and Agritech National Research Center European Union NextGenerationEU (PIANO NAZIONALE DI RIPRESA E RESILIENZA (PNRR)MISSIONE 4 COMPONENTE 2, INVESTIMENTO 1.4—D⋅D 1032 17/06/2022, CN00000022).