First discovery of Quercus feeding Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera) <br />in Central America

Abstract

Despite the high taxonomic diversity of oaks in Mexico and Central America, no Quercus feeding Nepticulidae have ever been recorded from the region. Here, we present seven species whose larvae are leaf-miners of Quercus (section Lobatae) in Guatemala. Except Stigmella nigriverticella (Chambers 1875), which was previously known from the United States, all other discovered species are new. We describe and name five new species (Stigmella jaguari Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov., S. lauta Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov., S. sublauta Remeikis & Stonis, sp. nov., S. aurifasciata Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov. and S. guatemalensis Diškus & Stonis, sp. nov.); the remaining new species is described but left unnamed because of lack of adults (i. e. moths and genitalia are described from developed pupae). All seven treated species are illustrated with photographs of the leaf-mines, adults, and genitalia.

Revised classification and catalogue of global Nepticulidae and Opostegidae (Lepidoptera, Nepticuloidea)

“…22), Asta Navickaite, Agnė Rocienė and Andrius Remeikis (Fig. 23) he continued working on the Neotropical fauna and collecting, now also in Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Chile (Stonis et al 2013c; 2013d; 2014; 2016b; Remeikis and Stonis 2015; Stonis and Remeikis 2015), but also revised the earlier described Far East Russian Nepticulidae (Rocienė and Stonis 2013; Stonis and Rocienė 2013) and worked on the Lithuanian and Crimean fauna (Navickaitė et al 2011; 2014). Puplesis-Stonis and his co-authors have contributed by far the largest number of new species in Nepticulidae, by July 2016 in total ca 225 valid names.…”

New taxa, including three new genera show uniqueness of Neotropical Nepticulidae (Lepidoptera)

“…A research team led by the Lithuanian researcher Rimantas Puplesis (later named Jonas R. Stonis) started fieldwork in Latin America in the late 1990’s and published a revision of Neotropical nepticulids early this century, bringing the total to 74 species in seven genera by 2002 (Puplesis and Robinson 2000; Puplesis et al 2002a, 2002b), including several species only known from southern Florida. Since then they continued with papers describing 40 new species, bringing the total to 114 in July 2016 (Šimkevičiūtė et al 2009; Stonis et al 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2014, 2015, 2016; Diškus and Stonis 2014; Remeikis et al 2014; Remeikis and Stonis 2015; Stonis and Remeikis 2015, 2016). These revisions continue, fieldwork continues and collections in Copenhagen, Washington and Vilnius still contain unnamed material (J. R. Stonis personal communication).…”

Ten new species from the Patagonian Andes (Argentina and Chile), mostly belonging to a newly designated Stigmella purpurimaculae group (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae)

“…In Puplesis & Robinson (2000) 58 species of Nepticulidae from Central and South America were reported (including five species currently known from southern Florida as members of the Neotropical fauna). This revision provided the basis for later investigations of the Neotropical fauna, which was soon followed by several other descriptions and checklists: Puplesis et al (2002a) describing 17 new species from Ecuador; Puplesis et al (2002b) providing an updated checklist with new distribution data; Šimkevičiūtė et al (2009) describing 3 species from Mexico; Stonis et al (2013bStonis et al ( , 2013cStonis et al ( , 2013d describing 12 new species from Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Unfortunately, most of the material collected by previous authors was obtained by light trapping, with only a few species reared from the larval stage.…”

“…Unfortunately, most of the material collected by previous authors was obtained by light trapping, with only a few species reared from the larval stage. Only in the most recent publications does reared material prevail (Stonis et al 2013b(Stonis et al , 2013c(Stonis et al , 2013d.…”