Description of three new species of Phyllocnistis Zeller, 1848 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), from the Atlantic Forest, south Brazil, with notes on natural history and phylogeny

Abstract

Three new species of Phyllocnistis Zeller (Phyllocnistinae) from the Atlantic Forest, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state of Brazil, are described. Phyllocnistis ourea sp. nov. is a leaf miner of Baccharis anomala DC. (Asteraceae) in the municipality of Montenegro. The other two species, P. phoebus sp. nov. and P. selene sp. nov. were found mining Begonia fruticosa (Klotzsch) A.DC. (Begoniaceae) and Drimys angustifolia Miers (Winteraceae) leaves, respectively, in the municipality of São Francisco de Paula. Information regarding the natural history of each species is provided. The specific status and phylogenetic relationships, including other members of Phyllocnistis, are inferred from DNA barcode (COI) sequences. Immature stages of the three species are typical sap-feeding instars, followed by a final spinning instar. Differences found in pupal characters and the colour pattern of the fasciae of adult fore wings were stable and thus used to delimit these new species. Thus, five species of Phyllocnistis are now known from Brazil, four of them from the Atlantic Forest. For the first time, we recorded Begoniaceae as a host plant family for Gracillariidae.

Description, natural history and genetic variation of Caloptilia guacanivora sp. nov. Vargas‐Ortiz & Vargas (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Atacama Desert, Chile

“…Brito et al 2012, Brito et al 2013, Brito et al 2017Lees et al 2014;Kirichenko et al 2015Kirichenko et al , 2017Pereira et al 2017). Brito et al 2012, Brito et al 2013, Brito et al 2017Lees et al 2014;Kirichenko et al 2015Kirichenko et al , 2017Pereira et al 2017).…”

“…The usefulness of DNA barcodes in exploring the biodiversity of microlepidoptera, has been widely recognised, with several examples in Gracillariidae (e.g. Brito et al 2012, Brito et al 2013, Brito et al 2017Lees et al 2014;Kirichenko et al 2015Kirichenko et al , 2017Pereira et al 2017). The two nearest taxa to C. guacanivora found in the GenBank and BOLD databases share some attributes with the new species, such as the host plant family (Caloptilia sp.…”

“…Firstly, the number of species actually present in this biogeographic region is underestimated for several reasons; one of which is poor sampling in many habitats Lees et al 2014). Arévalo-Maldonado 2014; Brito et al 2017;Moreira et al 2018;Mundaca et al 2013;Pereira et al 2017;Vargas et al 2013). Data on genitalia morphology, geographical ranges, host plants and immature stages remain unknown for many of them De Prins et al 2016).…”

“…Surveys for larvae of the Gracillariidae on native Neotropical plants are useful for the discovery of new species and improvement of knowledge about the morphology, geographical range and natural history of previously described species (e.g. Arévalo-Maldonado 2014; Brito et al 2017;Moreira et al 2018;Mundaca et al 2013;Pereira et al 2017;Vargas et al 2013).…”

Cryptic Diversity in the Monotypic Neotropical Micromoth Genus Angelabella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Peru-Chile Desert

“…A greater sampling effort is necessary to define lineage diversity at the metapopulation level for the type species and the three candidate species suggested here, which implies more detailed knowledge of their geographic ranges. Additional character sources must be assessed, including morphology of different life stages [ 64 , 65 ] and bi-parental markers [ 5 , 6 ], to understand better the processes and patterns that have governed the evolutionary history of this leaf miner genus.…”