Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) associated with Phyllanthus microcarpus (Benth.) (Phyllanthaceae)

Abstract

Three new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 are described based on specimens reared from fruits of Phyllanthus microcarpus (Benth.): Epicephala microcarpa sp. n. and Epicephala laeviclada sp. n. from Guangxi and Hainan, and Epicephala tertiaria sp. n. from Guangdong and Guangxi. Photographs of adults and illustrations of genital structures are provided.

Diversification and coevolution in brood pollination mutualisms: Windows into the role of biotic interactions in generating biological diversity

“…Tegeticula yuccasella appears to be a generalist yucca moth species that pollinates at least seven different species of Yucca across its range in the central and eastern United States (Pellmyr, 1999). A similar pattern exists with the widely distributed Phyllanthus reticulatus and P. microcarpus complex in East Asia and their diverse fauna of Epicephala (Luo et al, 2011; Kawakita et al, 2015; Li and Yang, 2015).…”

“…and Epicephala . There are examples of locally monophagous leafflower moths (Kawakita and Kato, 2006), and leafflowers, which locally only have unique pollinators (e.g., Kawakita and Kato, 2006; Kawakita et al, 2015; Li and Yang, 2015). There are, however, also more complex patterns of sympatric pollinator and host sharing (Zhang et al, 2012; Li et al, 2015; Hembry et al, unpublished manuscript).…”

Four new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) associated with two species of Glochidion (Phyllanthaceae) from Hainan Island in China

“…The genus Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 consists of 49 described species worldwide, mainly distributed in the Old World, with 15 species occurring in the Australian Region, 28 in the Oriental Region, one in the Palaearctic Region, and six in the Afrotropical Region (Vári 1961; Kuznetzov 1979; Nielsen et al 1996; De Prins and De Prins 2005, 2014; Zhang et al 2012b; Li and Yang 2015). In China, thirteen species have been recorded prior to this study (Meyrick 1935; Kendrick 2005; Hu et al 2011a, b; Zhang et al 2012b; Li and Yang 2015; Wang and Li 2015; Yang and Li 2015).…”

“…In China, thirteen species have been recorded prior to this study (Meyrick 1935; Kendrick 2005; Hu et al 2011a, b; Zhang et al 2012b; Li and Yang 2015; Wang and Li 2015; Yang and Li 2015). But there are still a large number of undescribed species of Epicephala , especially in tropical areas (Kawakita et al 2004; Kawakita and Kato 2006, 2009; Hembry et al 2012, 2013).…”

“…In most cases, within pollinating Epicephala and their hosts, a single species of Epicephala and a single species of Phyllanthaceae are uniquely associated at a single site, producing so-called “one-to-one” patterns of interaction (Kawakita and Kato 2006; Zhang et al 2012b). However, in some cases, more complex patterns of specialization, such as one-to-two (Kawakita and Kato 2006; Zhang et al 2012a), one-to-three (Li and Yang 2015) and two-to-two (Zhang et al 2012c) patterns, have occurred. We find one-to-four and one-to-two relationships, which will be described further in a separate paper.…”