6533b85afe1ef96bd12b9f03

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Description and Life History of an Unusual Fern-Feeding Tortricid Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Brazil

Joaquin BaixerasJorge Alberto Solórzano-filhoJohn W. BrownJane Elizabeth Kraus

subject

TortricidaePupaLepidoptera genitaliaProthoraxbiologyPolypodiaceaeGenusInsect ScienceBotanyGallInstarbiology.organism_classification

description

Tortrimosaica polypodivora Brown & Baixeras, new genus and new species, is described and illustrated from Sao Paulo, Brazil. We also describe and illustrate the last instar and pupa and provide notes on the life history. Larvae of the new species are gall inducers on the stems of Microgramma squamulosa (Kauf.) Sota (Polypodiaceae), an unusual behavior and host for a tortricid. Although placed provisionally in Hilarographini, tribal and subfamilial assignment of the new genus is extremely problematic owing to a mosaic of morphological characters, suggesting placement in a variety of different higher taxa. The larvae have a bisetose L-group on the prothorax, and the pupa has multiple rows of spines near the anterior edge of the dorsum of abdominal segments 3–8; both of these characters previously have been reported in the Tortricidae only in Thaumatographa (Hilarographini). Although the gall-inducing habit of the new species is not unique within Tortricidae, it is highly unusual within nonolethreutine lineages.

https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0865:dalhoa]2.0.co;2