Immigrant Tortricidae: Holarctic versus Introduced Species in North America

Abstract

In support of a comprehensive update to the checklist of the moths of North America, we attempt to determine the status of 151 species of Tortricidae present in North America that may be Holarctic, introduced, or sibling species of their European counterparts. Discovering the natural distributions of these taxa is often difficult, if not impossible, but several criteria can be applied to determine if a species that is present in both Europe and North America is natively Holarctic, introduced, or represented by different but closely related species on each continent. We use DNA barcodes (when available), morphology, host plants, and historical records (literature and museum specimens) to make these assessments and propose several taxonomic changes, as well as future areas of research. The following taxa are raised from synonymy to species status: Acleris ferrumixtana (Benander, 1934), stat. rev.; Acleris viburnana (Clemens, 1860), stat. rev.; Acleris pulverosana (Walker, 1863), stat. rev.; Acleris placidana (Robinson, 1869), stat. rev.; Lobesia spiraeae (McDunnough, 1938), stat. rev.; and Epiblema arctica Miller, 1985, stat. rev. Cydia saltitans (Westwood, 1858), stat. rev., is determined to be the valid name for the “jumping bean moth,” and Phiaris glaciana (Möschler, 1860), comb. n., is placed in a new genus. We determine that the number of Holarctic species has been overestimated by at least 20% in the past, and that the overall number of introduced species in North America is unexpectedly high, with Tortricidae accounting for approximately 23–30% of the total number of Lepidoptera species introduced to North America.

Hylotelephium spectabile, a New Host for Carnation Tortrix Moth (Cacoecimorpha pronubana) and Molecular Characterization in Greece

“…Morphological identification based on female genitalia was conducted by one of the authors (J.B.) and compared with literature reports and collection samples. Further on, due to reports on occurrence of cryptic C. pronubana species within Europe [ 18 ], DNA was extracted from the specimens in order to proceed with DNA barcoding. To do that, two individuals (4th instar caterpillars) were stored in 95% ethanol and posted for analysis to the Laboratory of Forest Entomology (Forest Research Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter) (Thessaloniki, Greece).…”

“…In particular, both these sequences were 100% identical with C. pronubana from France (Accession Number: KX041548) and Italy (Accession Number LC031966), and 99.77% similar with the sequences from the United Kingdom (Accession Number: KX043977), Germany (Accession Number: KX041034) and Italy (Accession Number LC031971). Given the distinct separation that has been previously revealed among the populations of C. pronubana worldwide [ 18 ], we compiled all the available C. pronubana sequences, deposited both in NCBI (see Accession Numbers above) and BOLD (BOLD BINs: AAD3477 and AAL5782) into an integrated large dataset and constructed a Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic tree. To do that, we used MEGA6 [ 21 ], employing K-2P distances with 500 bootstrap replicates, and rooted the tree with a sequence of a closely related tortricid species (Accession Number MK019304.1).…”

Reuse of voucher specimens provides insights into the genomic associations and taxonomic value of wing colour and genitalic differences in a pest group (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Choristoneura)

“…Subtle morphological distinctions can be helpful in distinguishing members of the spruce budworm species complex (Lumley & Sperling, ; Gilligan et al ., ; Brunet et al ., ), a group of moths that includes serious pests of conifer trees throughout Canada and the western United States (Gray & MacKinnon, ; Volney & Fleming, ). The two most economically important species in this complex, Choristoneura fumiferana ( fum ; Clemens 1865) and Choristoneura occidentalis Freeman, , co‐occur in western Alberta (Lumley & Sperling, ; Brunet, 2014, Brunet et al ., ; Dupuis et al ., ) where they are morphologically very similar (Dang, , ; Gray et al ., ; Shepherd et al ., ).…”

Complete mitochondrial genome of Cerace xanthocosma and its phylogenetic position in the family Tortricidae

“…2008 ), and there are more than 11,300 species of leafroller moths in the world (Gilligan et al. 2018 ). Currently, the Tortricidae is divided into three subfamilies: Tortricinae, Chlidanotinae, and Olethreutinae.…”