Erik J Van Nieukerken

Naturalis Biodiversity Center | NCB · Entomology

Stigmella naturnella (Klimesch, 1936), a leafminer of Betula , is here recorded as new for France, Croatia, Ukraine, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Since 2018, it has expanded its range into the last two countries, partly based on numerous online observations. Its distribution history is reviewed, the species is diagnosed and its life history is des...

Leafmining insects have extraordinarily intimate relationships with their host plants and are therefore prime candidates for potential ecological speciation in sympatry, but how commonly this mode of speciation occurs in any group of life remains debated. Prior research on the pygmy moth (Nepticulidae) genus Ectoedemia using morphology, DNA barcodi...

Damage to plant communities imposed by insect herbivores generally decreases from low to high latitudes. This decrease is routinely attributed to declines in herbivore abundance and/or diversity, whereas latitudinal changes in per capita food consumption remain virtually unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the lifetime food consumption by...

We record three Tischeriidae species new for Iran: Coptotriche gaunacella (Duponchel, 1843) from Tehran and Mazandaran provinces, Tischeria dodonaea Stainton, 1858 from East Azarbaijan province and T. caucasica Klasiński & Stonis, 2020, previously only known from Georgia. The larvae of T. caucasica were observed mining the leaves of planted trees o...

We record Stigmella stettinensis (HEINEMANN, 1871) as new for the eastern part of Germany, Sachsen, Oberlausitz, where numerous mines and larvae were found on Pyrus (Rosaceae). The identity was determined by DNA barcodes as rearing failed. We diagnose the mines against other Pyrus miners and review its distribution. We also record the species as ne...

Gracillariidae is the most taxonomically diverse cosmopolitan leaf-mining moth family, consisting of nearly 2000 named species in 105 described genera, classified into eight extant subfamilies. The majority of gracillariid species are internal plant feeders as larvae, creating mines and galls in plant tissue. Despite their diversity and ecological...

We record Antispilina ludwigi Hering, 1941 newly for France: Massif Central and Jura, Belgium: Ardennes and Switzerland: Jura and Alps, from many localities at middle elevations. All records were based on leafmines, often with larvae, in Snake-root, Bistorta officinalis Delarbre (Polygonaceae) and adults were reared from several localities. The spe...

Seventy-three species of Lepidoptera described from France since 2000, particularly by Jacques Nel and Thierry Varenne, are reassessed from largely unpublished molecular data. We tried to obtain DNA barcode sequences from 62 holotypes, supplemented by paratypes of eight species and on one case by non-type material, whereas one previously synonymize...

Gracillariidae is the most species-rich leaf-mining moth family with over 2,000 described species worldwide. In Europe, there are 263 valid named species recognized, many of which are difficult to identify using morphology only. Here we explore the use of DNA barcodes as a tool for identification and species discovery in European gracillariids. We...

Supplementary Table S1 | Checklist of the 263 European Gracillariidae species following the higher classification of Kawahara et al. (2017), and species not included in the checklist. Supplementary Table S2 | Metadata of 6,791 COI sequences and 312 BINs used in this study. Supplementary Table S3 | Summary statistics for specimens included in this...

An overview of the records of Bohemannia auriciliella (De Joannis, 1909) in Europe is given, including the first record for Germany (Lower Saxony, Hannover, 2018) and Bulgaria (Burgas, 2002) and new records for the Netherlands and France. In total only 28 specimens are known. Information on the recognition of the moth, and on DNA barcode is provide...

The new genus Aspilanta gen. n. is described to harbour Nearctic heliozelid moths with reduced venation, previously placed in Antispila Hübner, 1825, with type species Antispila oinophylla van Nieukerken & Wagner, 2012. The erection of this genus has become possible now that monophyly has been supported by a recent phylotranscriptomics analysis. Si...

Alloclita canariensis Koster & Junnilainen sp. nov. is described from the Canary Islands Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife. Two specimens from Gran Canaria were previously misidentified as A. francoeuriae Walsingham, 1905, a North African species. We record A. francoeuriae also as new for the Canary Islands, from Fuerteventura. Th...

S.Yu. Sinev (ed.). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Russia. Edition 2. St. Petersburg: Zoological Institute RAS, 2019. 448 с. The catalogue deals with the representatives of 97 families of Lepidoptera known by now from the territory of Russian Federation. On the total, 2251 genera and 9617 species (1039 genera and 5617 species of Microlepidoptera,...

Heliozelidae are a cosmopolitan family of small, day‐flying moths, and include some pest species of commercial crops. Overall, the family is poorly known and lacks a well‐resolved phylogeny. Previous molecular and taxonomic work has revealed rich undescribed diversity within the family, particularly in Australia; however, the relationships amongst...

We investigated the pollination of Habenaria tridactylites, an endemic orchid of the Canary Islands. The entirely green, widely open flowers have a long spur containing nectar. In this study, we carried out fieldwork, a molecular clock analysis, herbarium surveys and measured the length of orchid floral spurs and insect tongues using a combination...

In a recent paper in ZooKeys, Wiemers et al. (2018) provided an updated list of European butterfly names. In this list the authors follow gender agreement for species names, when interpreted as adjectival in derivation, in contrast to the common practice among most lepidopterists. Here we comment on this aspect of the paper, and voice our concern t...

Cosmopterix feminella Sinev, 1988, previously known from the East Palearctic, Primorskiy Territory in Russia and Japan has been collected at light in Europe. In northern Italy 58 females were collected in two localities in the province Asti, two in Alessandria, three in Udine, and in one locality in Pordenone. Cos-mopterix feminella is most likely...

The purpose of this application, under Articles 55.3.1 and 78.2.3 of the Code, is to resolve the homonymy between the family-group names RIVULINI Grote, 1895 in Lepidoptera and RIVULINI Myers, 1925 in Pisces. It is proposed that the stem of the generic name Rivula Guenée in Duponchel, 1845 be emended to Rivula-, so as to change the spelling of the...

In terms of amateurs and professionals studying and collecting insects, Lepidoptera represent one of the most popular groups. It is this popularity, in combination with wings being routinely spread during mounting, which results in Lepidoptera often taking up the largest number of drawers and space in entomological collections. As resources grow in...

Two heliozelid species, Antispila oinophylla van Nieukerken & Wagner and Holocacista rivillei (Stainton) severely infest Italian grapevines. The volatile pheromones from calling females were collected by solid phase micro extraction (SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD). Two compounds from A. oinoph...

Stigmella multispicata Rocienė & Stonis, 2014, previously known from the single male holotype from Primorye, Russia, is reported as a new invasive species mining leaves of Siberian elm, Ulmus pumila L., in eastern North America. Both adults and leafmines have been reported from many sites as unidentified Nepticulidae since 2010. Crucial for the ide...

Specimen data of Stigmellamultispicata and other Ulmus mining Nepticulidae

The above mentioned article was originally scheduled for publication in the special issue on Ecology of Tundra Arthropods with guest editors Toke T. Høye . Lauren E. Culler. Erroneously, the article was published in Polar Biology, Volume 40, Issue 11, November, 2017. The publisher sincerely apologizes to the guest editors and the authors for the in...

Antispila treitschkiella (Fischer von Röslerstamm, 1843) and A. petryi Martini, 1899, sp. rev. were regarded as synonymous since 1978, but are shown to be two clearly separated species with different hostplants, life histories, DNA barcodes and morphology. Antispila treitschkiella feeds on Cornus mas L., is bivoltine, and has, by following its orna...

A definitive species list is the foundation of biodiversity and conservation work. As we deal with massive climatic changes in the Anthropocene, knowing which species make up our diverse ecosystems will be critically important if we wish to protect and restore them. The Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies, are the fourth-largest insect order in term...

Heliozelidae are a widespread, evolutionarily early diverging family of small, day-flying monotrysian moths, for which a comprehensive phylogeny is lacking. We generated the first molecular phylogeny of the family using DNA sequences of two mitochondrial genes (COI and COII) and two nuclear genes (H3 and 28S) from 130 Heliozelidae specimens, includ...

Abstract Abstract. The genus Gielisella gen. n., belonging to the Elachistidae: Parametriotinae is described with two new species from southern Spain: its type species G. clarkeorum sp. n. and G. nigripalpis sp. n., both only known from adults collected at light. DNA barcodes of both species are provided. The taxonomic history of the Parametriotina...

Chronic, low intensity herbivory by invertebrates, termed background herbivory, has been understudied in tundra, yet its impacts are likely to increase in a warmer Arctic. The magnitude of these changes is however hard to predict as we know little about the drivers of current levels of invertebrate herbivory in tundra. We assessed the intensity of...

Stigmella tatrica sp. n. is described from moths taken in the alpine zone of the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. The new species is similar to several other montane species of Stigmella Schrank, 1802 in the S. aurella (Fabricius, 1775) group in external characters and male genitalia; its closest relative is S. dryadella (O. Hofmann, 1868). It is indis...

Classic morphological studies of the oldest, so-called nonditrysian lineages of Lepidoptera yielded a well-resolved phylogeny, supported by the stepwise origin of the traits characterizing the clade Ditrysia, which contains over 98% of extant lepidopterans. Subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular studies have robustly supported m...

After finding distinct clades in a molecular phylogeny for Nepticulidae that could not be placed in any known genera and discovering clear apomorphic characters that define these clades, as well as a number of Neotropical species that could be placed in known genera but were undescribed, three new genera and nine new species are here described from...

A catalogue of all named Nepticulidae and Opostegidae is presented, including fossil species. The catalogue is simultaneously published online in the scratchpad http://nepticuloidea.info/ and in Catalogue of Life (http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/database/id/172). We provide a historical overview of taxonomic research on Nepticuloidea and...

Nepticulidae represent one of the early diverging Lepidoptera lineages, and the family currently comprises over 850 described species. The larvae of the vast majority of the species are leaf miners on Angiosperms and highly monophagous, which has led to persistent ideas on coevolution with their plant hosts. We present here a molecular phylogeny ba...

BOLD TaxonID Tree of the dataset Lepidoptera - Nepticuloidea of the World 2016 [DS-NEPCAT]

Specimen data for Neotropical Nepticulidae with BOLD data

Specimen data for Catalogue of Nepticuloidea with BOLD data

Nepticulidae are amongst the earliest radiating Lepidoptera, with a fossil record of larval leafmines from the Albian onwards. We present a phylogeny and analysis of divergence times based on eight molecular markers, a taxonset of ca 350 exemplars, representing almost all (sub)generic groupings. The support for the monophyly of most clades is high,...

Summary. — Three males of Catapterix crimaea Zagulajev & Sinev, 1988, were discovered in southern France. This little known species, belonging to the family Acanthopteroctetidae (new family for France), superfamily Neopseustoidea (new superfamily for France) was previously only recorded from the Crimea. Catapterix crimaea is the only known Palearct...

The proliferation of DNA data is revolutionizing all fields of systematic research. DNA barcode sequences, now available for millions of specimens and several hundred thousand species, are increasingly used in algorithmic species delimitations. This is complicated by occasional incongruences between species and gene genealogies, as indicated by sit...

We report the first identification of a sex pheromone in a heliozelid moth, Holocacista capensis van Nieukerken & Geertsema. This leafminer recently infested grapevine in South Africa. Compared to solvent extraction of pheromone glands, solid phase microextraction (SPME) proved to be highly effective for collection of the pheromone from calling fem...

A grapevine leafminer found recently in table grape orchards and vineyards in the Paarl region (Western Cape, South Africa) is described as Holocacista capensis sp. n. It has also been found on native Rhoicissus digitata and bred on that species in the laboratory. It is closely related to Holocacista salutans (Meyrick, 1921), comb. n. (from Antispi...

Within the insect order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), the so-called nonditrysian superfamilies are mostly species-poor but highly divergent, offering numerous synapomorphies and strong morphological evidence for deep divergences. Uncertainties remain, however, and tests of the widely accepted morphological framework using other evidence are...

With phylogenetic knowledge of Lepidoptera rapidly increasing, catalysed by increasingly powerful molecular techniques, the demand for fossil calibration points to estimate an evolutionary timeframe for the order is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. The family Nepticulidae is a species rich, basal branch within the phylogeny of the Lepidopte...

The leafminer Coptodisca sp. (Lepidoptera: Heliozelidae), recently recorded for the first time in Europe on Italian black and common walnut trees, is shown to be the North-American Coptodisca lucifluella (Clemens) based on morphological (forewing pattern) and molecular (cytochrome oxidase c subunit I sequence) evidence. The phylogenetic relatedness...