Biology and Systematics of the Leafmining Gracillariidae of Brazilian Pepper Tree,Schinus terebinthifolius raddi, with Descriptions of a New Genus and Four New Species)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Recent surveys in southern Florida, USA, Brazil and Argentina, for biological control agents to assist in the control of the invasive Brazilian peppertree, have discovered several previously unknown species of plant mining Lepidoptera of the family Gracillariidae. Morphological descriptions with summaries of their biology for the following four new species and one new genus are presented: Caloptilia schinusifolia Davis and Wheeler, from Brazil and possibly Argentina; Eucosmophora schinusivora Davis and Wheeler, from Argentina and Brazil; Leurocephala schinusae Davis and Mc Kay, new genus and species, from Argentina and Brazil; and Marmara habecki Davis, new species, from Florida, USA. The larvae of all four species exhibit a hypermetamorphic development consisting of early instar sapfeeding and later instar tissue feeding stages typical for members of Gracillariidae. Larvae of M. habecki were also observed to possess an additional nonfeeding, transitional instar prior to the final instar as is typical for the genus (Wagner et al. 2000). Larvae of the new genus Leurocephala were discovered to undergo an intermediate, nearly apodal tissue feeding stage between the sapfeeding and final tissue feeding instars. Unique specimens representing an additional three species of Gracillariidae also have been reared from this tree in Argentina or Brazil, but these could not be identified because of inadequate material. COI barcodes were obtained for Marmara habecki, M. smilacisella, and an undescribed Marmara from Brazil. Each species was separated by a minimum barcode divergence of > 4.5% (Fig. 111).

A new genus and species of leaf miner (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) for Chile associated to the native tree Lithraea caustica

“…Previous host plant record for the Chilean fauna were restricted to the plant families Bignoniaceae (Vargas & Parra 2005), Fabaceae (Vargas & Landry 2005), Malvaceae (Vargas et al 2013) and Winteraceae (Davis 1994). Host plant association with Anacardiaceae has been previously mentioned for other three species of South American Gracillariidae in the genera Caloptilia Hübner, 1825, Eucosmophora Walsingham, 1897, and Leurocephala Davis & McKay, 2011, with most surveys for Gracillariidae on South American Anacardiacaeae directed to the Brazilian Pepper Tree, Schinus terebinthifolius Radii, 1820. The genus Lithraea has been also reported as host plant for two of these species: Caloptilia schinusifolia Davis & Wheeler, 2011, and Eucosmophora schinusivora Davis & Wheeler, 2011.…”

New taxa, including three new genera show uniqueness of Neotropical Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera)

“…Larvae were collected in late August, adults emerged indoors in September, and were caught in malaise traps from late September to late October. We collected the mines on planted trees, together with large numbers of the then still undescribed Leurocephala schinusae Davis & McKay (Davis et al 2011). …”

“…Davis et al (2011) described four gracillariid leafminers of the Brazilian pepper tree, partly aiming at finding suitable candidates to release as biological control against the invading pepper tree in Florida. They did not report on any nepticulid, but we assume that Stigmella schinivora is also widespread with the host.…”

A new Brazilian Passiflora leafminer: Spinivalva gaucha, gen. n., sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae), the first gracillariid without a sap-feeding instar

“…Only four genera are recognized as endemic to South America; one occurs in the Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil ( Leurocephala Davis & McKay, 2011) and three in Chile: one in the southern Valdivian forests ( Prophyllocnistis Davis, 1994) and two in the northern coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert ( Angelabella Vargas & Parra, 2005; Chileoptilia Vargas & Landry, 2005) (Davis 1994, Vargas and Landry 2005, Vargas and Parra 2005, Davis et al 2011). Only 29 gracillariid species have been recorded up to now for the Amazon and Atlantic rain forests of Brazil.…”

“…The Atlantic Rain Forest, where only six species of gracillariids have been recorded up to now (Davis and Miller 1984, Davis et al 2011, Brito et al 2012), originally extended for more than 3,300 km along the eastern Brazilian coast and covered more than 1.1 million km 2 (for a general description, see Morellato and Haddad 2000, Oliveira-Filho and Fontes 2000). Although now restricted to less than 8% of its earlier range, this biome is still among the areas with the greatest diversity of plants and animals on earth, and has long been recognized as extremely rich in endemics (Myers et al 2000, Carnaval et al 2009), including Lepidoptera (Freitas et al 2011).…”