Exceptional diversity of Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) from a single tropical forest site in Belize, Central Africa

Abstract

We report on fourteen species and four genera of Tischeriidae recorded from Las Cuevas, a single tropical forest locality in Belize, Central America. This is the highest number of species of Tischeriidae recorded from a single locality worldwide, exceeding the species and generic diversity of the entire Tischeriidae fauna of Europe and accounting for about 9% of the documented global fauna for this family. We describe and name six new species: Astrotischeria papilloma Diškus & Stonis sp. nov., mining on Lasianthaea fruticosa (L.) K.M.Becker (Asteraceae); A. scutifera Diškus & Stonis sp. nov., mining on Sida glabra Mill. (Malvaceae); A. basilobata Remeikis & Stonis sp. nov., mining on Lasianthaea fruticosa; Paratischeria robinsoni Diškus & Stonis sp. nov., mining on Otopappus verbesinoides Benth. (Asteraceae); P. tubifex Diškus & Stonis sp. nov., mining on Lasianthaea fruticosa; and P. belizensis Remeikis & Stonis sp. nov. (host plant unknown). Additionally, we review eight previously described species from the same period of collecting at Las Cuevas in 1997–1998: A. selvica Diškus, Carvalho-Filho & Stonis, 2018, mining on Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski and Synedrella nodiflora (L.) Gaertn. (Asteraceae); A. casila Diškus & Stonis, 2018, mining on Montanoa atriplicifolia (Pers.) Sch.Bip. (Asteraceae); A. furcata Diškus & Stonis, 2018 (host plant unknown); Paratischeria neotropicana (Diškus & Stonis, 2015), mining on Sida L. (Malvaceae), including S. rhombifolia L.; Dishkeya gouaniae (Stonis & Diškus, 2007), mining on Gouania polygama (Jacq.) Urb. (Rhamnaceae); Coptotriche pulverea (Walsingham, 1897), mining on Terminalia amazonia (J.F.Gmel.) Exell (Combretaceae); C. forsteroniae Stonis & Diškus, 2008, mining on Forsteronia myriantha Donn Sm. (Apocynaceae); and C. singularis Stonis & Diškus, 2008 (host plant unknown). All taxa, except for C. singularis, are illustrated with photographs of the adults and their genitalia. We also briefly discuss the discovery of some novel characters for Astrotischeria Puplesis & Diškus, 2003 and Paratischeria Diškus & Stonis, 2017, Tischeriidae, and provide the first photographic documentation of Coptotriche pulverea and C. forsteroniae.

Documenting trumpet leaf-miner moths (Tischeriidae): new Neotropical Coptotriche and Astrotischeria species, with notes on Sapindaceae as a host-plant family

“…The first record of Sapindaceae-feeding Tischeriidae from Central America was the result of long-term fieldwork by Owen T. Lewis (University of Oxford, UK) in Las cuevas, Belize, 1997Belize, -1998 During this fieldwork, one species was reared from Cardiospermum grandiflorum Sw., Sapindaceae (Stonis et al 2020a). Larvae of this tischeriid species, Coptotriche singularis Stonis & Diškus, are leaf miners, creating a rather typical blotch-type mine with a bent leaf margin, however, morphology of the male genitalia is unusual (Stonis & Diškus 2008) and it seems that taxonomic transfer of C. singularis to another genus of Tischeriidae would be more logical and better supported (Stonis et al in prep.…”

“…They also represent distinct moth families with uniquely modified morphological characters. The specialized characters of Tischeriidae were extensively reviewed by Braun (1972) and Puplesis & Diškus (2003), as well as analysed and illustrated in many recent publications, notably by Diškus & Stonis (2012, Xu et al (2017Xu et al ( , 2018, Stonis et al (2017Stonis et al ( , 2018Stonis et al ( , 2019aStonis et al ( , 2020aStonis et al ( , 2020bStonis et al ( , 2020cStonis et al ( , 2021, and Stonis & Solis (2020).…”

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

“…Tischeriidae occur from tropical to temperate regions but are most abundant in the subtropics and tropics. The rich fauna of Tischeriidae was recently highlighted in a case from a tropical forest in Central America (Stonis et al 2020a). On the other hand, the tischeriid fauna of South East Asia and East Asia are poorly surveyed (e.g., Stonis et al 2014b;Kobayashi et al 2016;Xu et al 2017Xu et al , 2018Kim et al 2019) and many new species in Asia await discovery.…”

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).…”