First record of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) at a research station in Antarctica

Abstract

We report the first formal record of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella from a location within the Antarctic Treaty area, with the capture of a live adult male within the Brazilian Comandante Ferraz research station on King George Island, South Shetland Islands. This species is a well-known pest of stored products and is widely recorded in synanthropic situations such as food stores globally. No other adults or immature stages have been observed on the station. While there is no suggestion that P. interpunctella could survive or establish in the natural environment beyond the station, this observation highlights the ever-present threat of unintended anthropogenically assisted transfer of non-Antarctic species into human facilities on the continent, with some such species proving extremely difficult to eradicate if they successfully establish within these facilities.

An outsider on the Antarctic Peninsula: A new record of the non‐native moth Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

“…Our molecular analyses included a total of 19 sequences. Three were obtained in the present study, from the specimens collected at Yelcho Station ( n = 2) and previously from Ferraz Station ( n = 1, collection described in (Câmara et al., 2022 )), combined with 16 sequences obtained from GenBank originating from the South Korean Local populations ( n = 8) and the United States Local populations ( n = 8; for accession numbers see Table A1 ). The final alignment consisted of 593 bp and did not include insertion/deletion or stop codons.…”

“…Non-perishable foods, such as grains, flour or rice, are particularly suitable for provisioning stations in Antarctica and are imported in large quantities by operators. Nevertheless, and despite the widespread synanthropic presence of the species globally, it is only in the last 2 years that specimens have been formally recorded in Antarctic research stations (Câmara et al, 2022; current study).…”

“…While P. interpunctella has only been recorded in synanthropic locations within research stations in Antarctica, and likely has neither the physiological capability to survive (Câmara et al., 2022 ) or suitable food source in the natural Antarctic environment, this third record of its presence again signals a very clear warning of the risks of inadvertent human‐assisted transfer of non‐native organisms to Antarctica if strict biosecurity controls are not in place and applied. A proportion of such transfers are likely to be suitably adapted to survive and establish in the Antarctic environment, as already clearly demonstrated by the northern boreal trichocerid fly, Trichocera maculipennis , on King George Island (Remedios‐De León et al., 2021 ) and the chironomid, Eretmoptera murphyi , on Signy Island (Bartlett et al., 2020 ).…”

“…While P. interpunctella has only been recorded in synanthropic locations within research stations in Antarctica, and likely has neither the physiological capability to survive (Câmara et al, 2022) or suitable food source in the natural Antarctic environment, this Signy Island (Bartlett et al, 2020). Such species may bring functions that are poorly or not currently represented in Antarctic ecosystems, potentially acting as ecosystem engineers and fundamentally changing ecosystem processes (Bartlett et al, 2023).…”

“…Biological invasions are arguably the greatest contemporary threat to Antarctic ecosystems and biodiversity (Convey & Peck, 2019 ), in addition to being recognized as one of the five major causes of biodiversity loss globally, acting in multiple and generally unknown ways and affecting multiple levels of ecosystem organization (Tellería, 2013 ). The presence of species such as the dipteran Trichocera maculipennis (Remedios‐De León et al., 2021 ; Volonterio et al., 2013 ), or the recent first record of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella within the Antarctic Treaty Area in 2021, at the Brazilian Commandante Ferraz research station in Admiralty Bay on King George Island (South Shetland Islands; (Câmara et al., 2022 )) and a previous sighting at the Korean King Sejong station in 2017 (pers. obs.…”