The late-instar larvae of about 185 species of the North American Olethreutidae are described and most of them illustrated. Included in these are many pests, such as Grapholitha molesta, Carpocapsa pomonella, and Spilonota ocellana on fruit trees, Paralobesia viteana on grapes, Ancylis comptana fragariae on strawberries, Laspeyresia nigricana in pea pods, Laspeyresia caryana in hickory and pecan nuts, Taniva albolineana in spruce needles, and species of Rhyacionia and Petrova on pines. Keys to species groups and to individual species are provided. Of the diagnostic and specialized characters listed, the most useful include the setae, the spinneret, and the shape of the larva, especially of its head and anal shield. The main characters are given for the postulated ancestral larva and for the highly developed larva. Most of the species groups are arranged according to the suggested phylogenetic relationship of their larvae, emphasizing the necessity of a revision of the family. Larvae of some genera previously difficult to classify, such as Pseudogalleria and Hystricophora, indicate the relationship of those genera to other groups; conversely, lack of relationship is clearly shown in other instances, e.g., between Carpocapsa pomonella and Carpocapsa saltitans, and between the two species Epiblema culminana and E. suffusana and other members of the genus Epiblema.
This work is a continuation of that already published on the larvae of the Olethreutidae (now considered to be a subfamily, the Olethreutinae), and is to be used in association with the latter, since no larval characters as yet known separate the two subfamilies. Over 100 species of the North American Tortricinae are discussed, the late-instar larvae of 97 of these are described, and morphological characters of most of them illustrated. Many of them are well-known economic pests such as the spruce and pine budworms, the black-headed budworm, the omnivorous leaf tier, etc. Keys to tribes, genera, species groups and species are provided. The inadequacies of a taxonomic classification based solely upon adult characters are also demonstrated in an examination of the larvae of the genus Archips as presently established.
In the literature on forest entomology there has been considerable confusion regarding the true identity of the two species of Dioryctria feeding on spruce in North America. Superficially the adults of these species resemble each other so closely that the one is easily mistaken for the other. In seasonal history and habits, however, they differ very materially.
This work supplements that of MacKay (1959), and includes the descriptions and illustrations of the larvae of ten species, and notes on two genera and the colour variations of two species. The subfamily ‘Olethreutinae’ has been substituted for the ‘Olethreutidae’ of MacKay (1959) in the title of the paper; this conforms with the adult studies of Obraztsov (1945), Diakanoff (1952) and other authors.
Presented here, with notes, are 55 plates of illustrations: 48 are larval sketches representing 48 species in 18 families of Microlepidoptera; the remaining seven are scanning electron micrographs of larvae of three of the families, Lyonetiidae, Bucculatrigidae, and Stigmellidae. The illustrations suggest interesting affinities in some instances, are useful as identification aids, and show structural details not hitherto observed or recognized as important taxonomically.
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