Murcia has filled with moths. There is nothing weird in this invasion

Temperatures in Spain rise. The State Meteorology Agency has already launched the first notice that We will touch the 40º this final stretch of May. The first half of June is expected to be more dry and warm than usualand with that increase in temperatures, in recent weeks there is something that has proliferated: bugs. The mosquitoes returnbut in some areas of Murcia there is another type of invasion: that of The moths.

There is already talk of “plague”, but it is neither a plague nor it is weird that there are more moths in Murcia.

Alert! “Matcia moths” is already a trend In networks like Tiktokwhere we talk about an authentic invasion, but there are users from other parts of the country who are reporting an increase in the population of these insects. Many of the videos begin with a “what is happening with the moths.” And the answer is that nothing is happening out of the ordinary.

As we read in The truththe neighbors complain that the number increases at night and this is also completely normal. In fact, last year, attention began to be attracted to a moths The first week of June.

Usual suspects. Every year at this time, the Spanish Levante, as well as a large part of the Peninsula, report an increase in the presence of these lepidoptera, especially at nightfall. The reason is that they are attracted to artificial lighting, which is why it is easier to see them in cities, but as we say, it is cyclical and that nothing has to do with an invasion or something exotic.

The Limero Little

There are two suspicious species. On the one hand, the Prays Citrior “Limero moth.” It is a lepidopter that has a clear objective: citrus. It has a size of about 10 millimeters and is a species that experiences population peaks in spring and summer. In some citrus producing regions in Murcia they are seeing these daysand these moths are only one of the insect species that You have to fight so that they do not affect the harvest.

And the Gamma Autograph

On the other hand, we have the Autographa gammaa larger moth (which can reach 45 millimeters and that is the most stir can be causing these days. It is a night moth that lives in the Iberian Peninsula and in North Africa that, in addition, is migratory. temperature increasepopulations shoot and undertake their way to regions in which they cannot survive in winter, such as northern Europe.

Of plague, nothing. Taking advantage of fast air currents, Autographa gamma He undertakes his journey from South to the north on these dates, the opposite occurring in autumn, when they return from the north to the Mediterranean and Africa breeding areas. This means that When the heat beginsThey spend a few days in the Spanish Levante while they travel the area to the north.

The Zoonosis Service of the City of Murcia has confirmed the newspaper The opinion that these days have received several calls from neighbors alerting about this fact, but that is nothing out of the ordinary. They also clarify that they are not clothes moths, do not transmit diseases and are not a danger. And from Sanimura Murcian company of pest control, have confirmed our partners of Straight to the palate that “you can have them or not, but it is no plague. It is not true.”

Every time … before? This year’s problem is that the cycles of these species seem to have been advanced. It has been A especially rainy springso that increase in humidity and vegetation causes more insects than, with the arrival of higher temperatures, resulting in a population explosion.

It does not mean that there are more than usual, but that they have arrived before. José Luis Viejo Montesinos is a professor of Zoology and a member of the Spanish Society of Entomology and comments on ABC That he is surprised that he talks about “plague” and recommends something as simple as “if you find one of these moths, give them a snack if they bother you and nothing more.”

Images | Ben comes out, Carlos Delgado, Donald Hobern

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