Abstract
P. archon is a Neotropical castniid species. It is not considered a pest in most of its native range, probably because it lives mainly on wild palm trees and not on crops; however, Houlbert (1918) and Bourquin (1933) reported that it had the potential to become a serious pest of palms. It was accidentally introduced to Europe from Argentina, as larvae hidden in imported palm trees, mostly Butia yatay and Trithrinax campestris. In Europe, where it is spreading rapidly, P. archon was first found in 2001 in Spain (Aguilar et al., 2001), France (Drescher and Dufay, 2001; Sarto i Monteys and Aguilar, 2001) and Italy (Espinosa et al., 2003; Riolo et al., 2004) and is considered an invasive species in these countries. It is already an invasive pest in France, Italy and Spain, where serious damage and plant mortality has been reported (1000 palm trees have been destroyed) and has become a pest in Buenos Aires, where it was introduced from north-east Argentina (Sarto i Monteys and Aguilar, 2005). The moth is currently listed in the EPPO A2 List (n. 338) of 'Pests recommended for regulation as quarantine pests' (OEPP/EPPO, 2008) and in European Phytosanitary Legislation in AnnexII/Part A/Section II (COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2009/7/EC of 10 February 2009 amending Annexes I, II, IV and V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community).