Exotic-looking Neotropical Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) and their host plants

Stonis, Jonas R.; Diškus, Arūnas; Remeikis, Andrius; Solís, M. Alma; Katinas, Liliana

doi:10.3897/zookeys.970.54801

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…It is well-known that leaf-mining larvae of Nepticulidae show great selectivity in their food choice: they are predominantly monophagous, and to a lesser degree, oligophagous. Therefore, although the distribution of these phytophagous insects may be dependent on many other factors than host plant alone, we recently hypothesized that the distribution of host plants can suggest much broader ranges for the host-specific leaf miners (Stonis et al 2019a(Stonis et al , 2020. In accordance with this, we provide (Figs 68-70) potential distribution ranges of all five species treated in this paper.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

New leaf-mining Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera): potential pests of aromatic Lamiaceae plants from equatorial Andes

Stonis

Diškus

Fernández-Alonso

et al. 2021

Zootaxa

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Members of the Lamiaceae, or mint family, are used worldwide for medicinal, culinary and/or magical-religious purposes, as well as in pesticides and as ornamental plants. Very little is known about nepticulids, or pygmy moths, as leaf miners of Lamiaceae, but they may be an important component of South American diversity and potential pests of economically-important species of the mint family. In this paper, four new species of leaf-mining Nepticulidae are described from the equatorial Andes of Ecuador: S. mentholica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., Stigmella aromatica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., S. odora Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., feeding on Minthostachys mollis (Benth.) Griseb., and S. tomentosella Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., feeding on Clinopodium tomentosum (Kunth) Govaerts. It is hypothesized that host-plant distribution ranges can provide clues to potential distribution ranges of these newly discovered, trophically specialized leaf miners. The leaf mines, adults, and the genitalia of the new species are illustrated with photographs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

New leaf-mining Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera): potential pests of aromatic Lamiaceae plants from equatorial Andes

Stonis

Diškus

Fernández-Alonso

et al. 2021

Zootaxa

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“…The families Opostegidae, Tischeriidae and Heliozelidae should be discussed separately: Heliozelidae was specifically mentioned in a recent discussion in ResearchGate (García-Barros et al 2016) because it includes some very small and extremely small moths, while Opostegidae and Tischeriidae were already indicated as the families among the smallest Lepidoptera in some earlier published works (Davis 1999;Davis & Stonis 2007;Diškus & Stonis 2012;Stonis et al 2020a). Forewings of Heliozelidae often range from 1.7 to 7.0 mm (Davis 1999); the extremely small European Holocacista rivillei (Stainton) has a wingspan of about 3.5-4.0 mm (van Nieukerken et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are the smallest moths (Lepidoptera) in the world?

Stonis

Remeikis

Diškus

et al. 2021

Zootaxa

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The world’s smallest moths in Lepidoptera (Insecta) and the complexity in making such a determination are examined and discussed. The forewing length and wingspan of 650 species were measured and the same data were retrieved from published papers to determine which species and family have the smallest moths in the world. The minimal recorded forewing length was found to be around 1.2–1.3 mm and the wingspan around 2.6–2.8 mm in two families, the Gracillariidae and Nepticulidae. Among Lepidoptera, the following species have the smallest moths globally: the European Johanssoniella acetosae (Stainton), the Peruvian Simplimorpha kailai Stonis & Diškus, the Mexican Stigmella maya Remeikis & Stonis, the Mediterranean S. diniensis (Klimesh), the Mediterranean Parafomoria liguricella (Klimesh) (Nepticulidae), the South East Asian Porphyrosela alternata Kumata, and the Central African P. desmodivora De Prins (Gracillariidae). Additionally, in the Nepticulidae, we provide a measurement update for Stigmella maya Remeikis & Stonis, one of the tiniest species with a forewing length of 1.3 mm and wingspan of 2.8 mm, and describe a new species, Stigmella incaica Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., with a forewing length of 1.75 to 1.95 mm and a wingspan of 3.8 to 4.3 mm.

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“…Forty-six species are known from the Nearctic and 49 from the Neotropics, including 21 from Central America. The identified fauna of Las Cuevas, a single locality in the Central American tropical forest, exceeds the European fauna and represents almost one third of the Tischeriidae fauna of the Neotropics (for the updated Neotropical data see Stonis et al 2020), about 67% of the fauna currently described from Central America and 9% of the documented global fauna. Considering the insufficient sampling in most of Central America, it is possible that the diversity observed at Las Cuevas is just the tip of the iceberg and that the tropical forests of Central America are more widely characterized by high richness and taxonomic diversity of Tischeriidae.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Paratischeria neotropicana is the tischeriid species with the broadest distribution range yet documented in the Neotropics, having been recorded from various localities in Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia (Stonis & Solis 2020).…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stonis¹,

Diškus²,

Remeikis³

et al. 2020

EJT

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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.

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Exotic-looking Neotropical Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) and their host plants

Cited by 14 publications

References 30 publications

New leaf-mining Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera): potential pests of aromatic Lamiaceae plants from equatorial Andes

New leaf-mining Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera): potential pests of aromatic Lamiaceae plants from equatorial Andes

What are the smallest moths (Lepidoptera) in the world?

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

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