Habitat indicators and Phytosanitary Significance of Erebidae (Lepidoptera) in the Fergana Valley, Central Asia

Abstract

The Fergana Valley in Central Asia is a densely populated agricultural basin whose phytophagous insect fauna remains incompletely characterised. This study provides the first standardised, multi-habitat assessment of Erebidae moths (Lepidoptera) across six landscape types of the valley. Light-trap sampling of 60 georeferenced localities- comprising foothill, adyr semi-arid steppe, tugai riparian, desert, agroecosystem and urban sites - was conducted between 2021 and 2025. Sampling yielded 5,568 individuals belonging to 21 species in four subfamilies (Arctiinae, Lymantriinae, Erebinae and Boletobiinae). All 511 vouchers, 47.9% of which were examined by genitalia dissection, are deposited at the Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (IZAS-UZ), and specimen-level occurrence data are openly published via GBIF. Coverage-based sample completeness exceeded 99.9% in every habitat. PERMANOVA on Hellinger-transformed abundances revealed highly significant compositional differences among habitats (F5,54 = 8.67, p < 0.001), and mean Sorensen β-diversity (0.59) was dominated by species turnover (81.7%). Indicator species analysis identified a distinctive tugai assemblage led by Catocala nupta (IndVal = 91.7), a single desert specialist, Anumeta fractistrigata (IndVal = 75.0), and a set of agro-urban indicators including the eurytopic pests Tyta luctuosa, Grammodes stolida, Dysgonia algira, Lymantria dispar and Euproctis chrysorrhoea. Distance-based redundancy analysis identified canopy cover, elevation, human disturbance, salinity and soil moisture as significant compositional drivers, together explaining 39.6% of the variance. The results delineate habitat-linked indicator groups relevant to phytosanitary monitoring, to the biological control of Convolvulus arvensis by Tyta luctuosa, and to the conservation of the vanishing tugai forests of Central Asia.