First record of adventive species Micromus variegatus ( Fabricius ) from eastern Canada ( Neuroptera , Hemerobiidae )

An adventive Palaearctic species, Micromus variegatus (Fabricius) (Neuroptera, Hemerobiidae), is reported as new to Québec, eastern Canada. It was recorded for the fi rst time from North America in 1988, from Galiano Island, off the coast of southwestern British Columbia. Th e present records confi rm the occurrence of this species in eastern Canada, which constitutes the second known introduction of M. variegatus into North America.


Introduction
revised the species of Micromus Rambur from Canada and Alaska.Seven species were reported including the fi rst record of Micromus variegatus from North America, on Galiano Island, British Columbia.Th e authors suspected the possible introduction of this species into Canada from Japan.Micromus variegatus is a Palaearctic species occurring in the British Isles and Western Europe (Killington 1936).Aspöck et al. (1980) reported it from most of Europe, Turkey (Anatolia), northern Iran and Japan.Agekyan (1973) reported it from the Black Sea littoral of the former Soviet Union.Th e present new record from Québec, Canada, most likely represents the second known introduction of this species into North America.

Material and methods
In 2009, 20 yellow pan traps (Fig. 1) were placed in rows of raspberries grown in tunnels (Fig. 2) in Saint-Laurent-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, east of Quebec City, in order to study fl ea beetles, which could cause problems in this artifi cial environment.Th e tunnels were open ended at least occasionally to improve ventilation.Yellow pan traps are attractive to several fl ying insects and have been successfully used for the study of fl ea beetles in raspberry fi elds (Lévesque and Lévesque 1998) and in vineyards (LeSage et al. 2008).One of the main advantages of yellow pan trapping is to collect not only fl ying insects but also ground insects, both at the same time.Consequently, "collateral" benefi ts can be obtained by looking at "residues" that may contain interesting species and/or records in groups that were not specifi cally targeted.Th e hemerobiids reported here were obtained from residues of samples collected for a survey of fl ea beetles.A fi rst hypothesis is that M. variegatus could have been introduced much earlier in the 1980s or 1990s as eggs or other life forms with the raspberry plants imported into Canada from other countries (e.g., United Kingdom or the United States).Or it could be a fairly recent introduction directly into Quebec City through the international commerce of plant material.In this case, the growth tunnels may have served as a "refugium" for this exotic insect.
With an increased volume of commercial goods, we are experiencing many new introductions of exotic insect species into Canada and throughout the world (Maj ka and Klimaszewski 2008).Th e occurrence of M. variegatus in Québec provides another example of this trend.Th e British Columbia adults were collected from June through August but no other collecting details are known.Dunn (1956) recorded this species from an alfalfa fi eld infested with pea aphids.Agekyan (1973) found this species on bamboo infested with bamboo aphids in the Black Sea littoral.Killington (1936) reported it from the British Isles occurring on low vegetation in gardens and with at least two generations annually occurring in southern England, the fi rst appearing in April, May and June and the second in August and September.Aspöck et al. (1980) recorded this species from gardens and parks in central Europe.Th e adults were re-described and illustrated, including the genital structures, by Klimaszewski and Kevan (1988) [Figs 32-35, 42 A, B], and the habitus image is shown in this publication (Fig. 3).
Th e immature stages have been described by Brauer (1871), Killington (1936), Dunn (1956) and Agekyan (1973).Th ere are three larval instars, all described in detail by Klimaszewski and Kevan (1988), and the same applies to the egg and pupa.Th e literature review indicates that the species mainly feeds on aphids and the larvae are extremely voracious and feed on both nymphs and adult females of aphids.Due to the known life history of Micromus variegatus, there are no direct economic risks posed by the introduction of this species into Canada but its presence may prove not to be benefi cial to some of our native species.

Figure 3 .a
Figure 3. a Lateral image of Micromus variegatus (Fabricius), based on a specimen captured in Québec b Forewing of Micromus variegatus (Fabricius), based on a specimen captured in Québec.