An annotated checklist of the noctuoidea of Jordan with remarks on ecology, phenology and zoogeography. Part I: Erebidae & euteliidae (lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

A complete list of the presently known 94 Erebidae and 2 Euteliidae especies of Jordan is presented, and the biogeography, phenology and distribution of the same are discussed. Within a German - Israeli project to monitor the Lepidoptera Fauna of the Levant we record from 1986 to 2010 a total of 96 species, 26 of which (27.1%) are new records for the country. In Jordan the Erebidae are represented by 7 subfamilies and 37 genera, the 2 Euteliidae are within the same genus. Most of the recorded species belong to the Catocalinae (63) and Eublemminae (22), the majority of the species are of an Eremic (43), Mediterranean (23) and Irano-Turanian (16) distribution pattern. Most of the Erebidae (55) are clearly concentrated within one vegetation zone, while the 16 species of tropical origin (ubiquitous, polyphagous) are distributed often all over the country. In Jordan almost all the Eremic and Irano- Turanian species known from the Levant are found, whereas the Mediterranean, Tropical and Palearctic elements of the same region are represented only by about half, or even less of the known species. Forty species are uni-voltine with the highest rate of occurrence in spring from March to April; the other species are multi-voltine, flying at least twice - in spring and again later in autumn - from October to November. During the summer practically only multivoltine species are found.