A new genus for Laspeyresia guttifera Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae Olethreutinae), with notes on its host plant and geographic distribution

Authors: Brown, John

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/15/2007
Publication Date: 7/8/2008
Citation: Brown, J.W. 2008. A new genus for Laspeyresia guttifera Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae Olethreutinae), with notes on its host plant and geographic distribution. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 110: 635-642.

Interpretive Summary: Caterpillars of moths in the family commonly known as “leaf-rollers” are plant-feeding, causing billions of dollars of damage annually to crops, ornamentals, and forest trees. In this paper we describe a new genus to accommodate a species that is widespread throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, and whose caterpillars feed internally on the fruit of madroño or madruno. We present the first contemporary evaluation of its anatomy and geographic distribution and the first report of its food plant. This information will be useful to ecologists interested in the biology of fruit-feeding moths, systematists involved in biodiversity studies of the New World tropics, and action agencies (such as APHIS) who are involved in detection and exclusion of non-native species at U.S. ports-of-entry.

Technical Abstract: Eriocydia Razowski & Brown, new genus, is described to accommodate the single species Laspeyresia guttifera Meyrick, 1913. Most recently the species was placed in Cydia (Grapholitini); however, several morphological features contradict its assignment to not only to Cydia but to Grapholitini. Eriocydia is recorded from Central America (Panama, Costa Rica), the Caribbean (Dominica), and South America (Colombia, Venezuela, French Guyana, Brazil, and Paraguay). Slight differences in genitalia among specimens from different geographical regions suggest that E. guttifera may constitute more than a single species. Larvae have been reared on numerous occasions in Colombia and Panama from the fruit of Garcinia madruno (Kunth) Hammel (Clusiaceae).