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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393203
Research Project: Systematics of Beetles, Flies, Moths and Wasps with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Cacotherapia Dyar (Pyralidae: Galleriinae) at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.: Type images and lectotype designations

Author
item Solis, M Alma

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/2022
Publication Date: 12/1/2022
Citation: Solis, M.A. 2022. Cacotherapia Dyar (Pyralidae: Galleriinae) at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.: Type images and lectotype designations. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 124(2):346-358. https://doi.org/ 10.4289/0013-8797.124.2.346.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.124.2.346

Interpretive Summary: Scale insects and mealybugs in greenhouses and on crops, such as vineyards, cost growers and retailers millions of dollars per year in control. In nature, this group of snout moth larvae are known to eat soft scales and mealybugs found on plants, but the taxonomy of this group of moths has never been studied since the first species was described in the late 1800’s. To begin a study, the type specimens at The National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. were photographed, and their original descriptions examined to determine the standard bearer, or a type specimen, for each species. Five species were described from a series of specimens, therefore a lectotype, or a single specimen, was selected to fix and stabilize the concept of the scientific name for each species. This research, and especially the photographs, can be used by horticulturalists and entomologists to identify species of this group of moths that reaches its highest diversity in southwestern United States.

Technical Abstract: Almost all the type specimens of Cacotherapia Dyar (Pyralidae: Galleriinae) are located at The National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (USNM). The type specimens and their labels were photographed, and original descriptions were reviewed to investigate the status of primary type specimens. The locality of the type species, C. nigrocinereella Hulst, is confirmed to be in Utah, and not Texas as in the original description. Lectotypes are designated for C. angulalis (Barnes & McDunnough, 1918), C. flexilinealis Dyar, 1905, C. poecilostigma (Dyar, 1914), C. ponda Dyar, 1907, and C. unipuncta (Dyar, 1913) to fix and stabilize the concept of the scientific name for these species.