Nazari & Landry 2012 - Gnorimoschemini of Alberta
Abstract
Report prepared for The Alberta Lepidopterists’ Guild
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The collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., is second only to that of The Natural History Museum ( formerly British Museum of Natural History), London, in the number of type specimens of the superfamily Gelechioidea ( Lepidoptera). The Smithsonian houses 1,375 gelechioid types: 1,249 holotypes, 48 lectotypes, 1 neotype, 69 species represented by one or more syntypes, and 8 species represented by one or more "pseudotypes" (i.e., specimens identified as "type" by an accompanying label that are unlikely to be the type). Three former curators are responsible for the vast majority of the type specimens: August Busck, J. F. Gates Clarke, and Ronald W. Hodges. We present a list of the species for which a type is deposited in the USNM, organized alphabetically. For each species we provide an abbreviated reference to the original description and label data. This list represents the second contribution to a larger effort to make available information on the Lepidoptera type holdings of the USNM.
The eight moths investigated are (1) Gnorimoschema gallaesolidaginum (Riley), (2) G. jocelynae N. Sp., (3) G. salinarum Busck, (4) G. septentrionellum Fyles, (5) G. gallaespeciosum N. Sp., (6) G. gibsoniellum Busck, (7) G. slabaughi N. Sp., and (8) G. gallaeasterellum (Kellicott). Little or no information has hitherto been available for five of them. Coverage includes adult and gall traits, distribution point maps, insect biology, gall biology, diagnostic characters of adults and galls, and intra- and intersite incidence. Study material consisted mostly of galls I collected, adults that issued from them, and gall data from many old-field sites in Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere. Distributions range from localities in two states for gall moth No. 5 to trans-Nearctic for No. 1. These taxonomically similar gallers are univoltine, with adults eclosing in late summer, and unhatched pharate larvae overwintering. Larval foodplants include species of Solidago, Aster, Grindelia, and Haplopappus (Asteraceae), on all of which the moths are monophagous to oligophagous. Foodplant ramets are selected by neonate larvae. Typically, young larvae bore downward through the pith, molt, reverse direction of travel, molt again, then concentrate feeding and gall-induction. The fusiform, monothalamous galls are vertically symmetrical to pear-shaped. The extended phenotype concept of Dawkins enabled certain gallers to be unequivocally distinguished by gall traits, notably by the intricate architecture of the larval-prepared adult exit. Adult exits of galler Nos. 1–3 are plugged with distinctive bungs. Galler No. 2, a widespread cryptic and sibling species to No. 1, was discovered by its differing adult exit architecture. Adult exits of the bungless gallers are capped with intact plant epidermis, or with plant tissue fragments interwoven with silk. I provide a key for distinguishing the eight gall moths that integrates insect and gall characters.
New taxa: Gnorimoschema jalavai sp. n. from the Altai Mountains, G. mikkolai sp. n. from the Upper Kolyma River, and G. epithymellum kirgisicum ssp. n. from Kirgisia. The previously unknown female of Gobipalpa inexpectata Povolný, 1973 is described. New distributional records: Gobipalpa inexpectata and Gnorimoschema epithymellum (Staudinger, 1857) from Kirgisia, Gnorimoschema antiquum montanum Povolny, 1966, from Kazakhstan, Gnorimoschema nordlandicolellum (Strand, 1902), from Kirgisia and Irkutsk, and Gnorimoschema herbichi kamchaticum Povolný, 1977 from the Anadyr valley in the Chukchi area in Northeastern Siberia (northernmost record of Gnorimoschemini).
Insects boast incredible diversity, and this book treats an important component of the western insect biota that has not been summarized before-moths and their plant relationships. There are about 8,000 named species of moths in our region, and although most are unnoticed by the public, many attract attention when their larvae create economic damage: eating holes in woolens, infesting stored foods, boring into apples, damaging crops and garden plants, or defoliating forests. In contrast to previous North American moth books, this volume discusses and illustrates about 25% of the species in every family, including the tiny species, making this the most comprehensive volume in its field. With this approach it provides access to microlepidoptera study for biologists as well as amateur collectors. About 2,500 species are described and illustrated, including virtually all moths of economic importance, summarizing their morphology, taxonomy, adult behavior, larval biology, and life cycles.