Diagnostics of Manitischeria gen. nov., an Old-World genus of leaf-mining Tischeriidae, composed of new species and species formerly in Tischeria Zeller

Abstract

We describe a new genus, Manitischeria Diškus & Stonis, gen. nov., and five new species: Manitischeria selindica Stonis & Diškus, sp. nov., M. namibiensis Stonis & Diškus, sp. nov. from Africa, and M. brachiata Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., M. symbolica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., and M. baryshnikovae Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. from South East Asia. We discuss the diagnostics of Manitischeria gen. nov. composed of these new species and others transferred from Tischeria Zeller. Species are mostly trophically associated with Malvaceae, but also Rhamnaceae and Betulaceae. We list 18 currently known species of Manitischeria gen. nov., including M. ptarmica (Meyrick), the type species, and provide 13 new combinations and the first documentation of genitalia of some, previously little-known species. New species are illustrated with photographs or drawings of the adults, genitalia, and the leaf mines when available. We briefly discuss the use of herbarium specimens to discover lepidopteran leaf mines, host plant, and distribution data.

Differentiation of Paratischeria and Neotischeria gen. nov. (Lepidoptera, Tischeriidae), with a description of new, mostly Asteraceae-feeding species from Central and South America

“…Initially, the family comprised a single genus, Tischeria Zeller. However, before our study, Tischeridae was already comprised of six genera: Tischeria Zeller, 1839; Coptotriche Walsingham, 1890; Astrotischeria Puplesis & Diškus, 2003; Paratischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2017 (Stonis et al, 2017); Dishkeya Stonis, 2020 (Stonis, Solis, 2020), and Manitischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2021 (Stonis et al, 2021b).…”

“…The adults of trumpet moths possess numerous specialised morphological characters, including long antennal sensillae trichodea on the male antenna, a modified phallus in the male genitalia, or ovipositor lobes covered with thickened peg-like setae along with unique, rod-like or plate-like projections known as prela in the female genitalia. The unique characters of Tischeriidae were overviewed in the monographs by Braun (1972) and Puplesis, Diškus (2003), as well as discussed and variously illustrated in recent papers, including those by Xu et al (2017Xu et al ( , 2018, Stonis et al (2017Stonis et al ( , 2018aStonis et al ( , 2019aStonis et al ( , 2020aStonis et al ( , 2020bStonis et al ( , 2020cStonis et al ( , 2021aStonis et al ( , 2021b, and Stonis, Solis (2020).…”

Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) leafminers new to Iran, including Tischeria caucasica on Quercus: a sibling species of T. ekebladella or a case of clinal variation?

“…Tischeriidae Spuler, 1899, or trumpet moths, is a small family of leafmining micromoths, with 158 described species in six genera globally Stonis et al , 2021a. The larvae are leafminers during all larval instars (Diškus and Puplesis 2003a, b) and form trumpet-shaped or irregular blotch mines (Davis 1998), explaining the common name.…”

Most trumpet moths don’t feed on plants of the nettle family but Paratischeria does: the first discovery of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) on Urticaceae in Asia

“…For the biological (and morphological) characterization of Tischeriidae, we recommend the monographs by Braun (1972) and Puplesis & Diškus (2003), as well as some more recent papers (Diškus & Stonis 2015;Kobayashi et al 2016;Xu et al 2017;Stonis et al 2019aStonis et al , 2019bStonis et al , 2019cStonis et al , 2020aStonis et al , 2020bStonis et al , 2020cStonis et al , 2021Stonis & Solis 2020).…”