Report of the geranium bronze butterfly, Cacyreus marshalli for mainland Greece

In July and September 2010, two samples of infested geranium plants (Pelargonium spp.), which  were  originally  collected  from  Kifissia,  Attica-Greece,  were  received  at  the  Laboratory  of  Bio-logical Control at Benaki Phytopathological Institute, Greece. Larvae were taken from infested plants and kept under laboratory conditions at 25±1°C, 70±5% RH and under a photoperiod of 16L:8D h un-til  adults  emerged.  Adults  were  identified  as  the  Geranium  Bronze  Butterfly, Cacyreus  marshalli But-ler (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). This species is recorded for the first time for mainland Greece. Cacyreus marshalli is on the EPPO A2 List of pests recommended for the regulation as quarantine pests. Gera-nium Bronze Butterfly has the potential to establish in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean ba-sin as climatic conditions can allow this pest to overwinter outdoors and its host plants are common-ly propagated.