Wrong side of the leaf: assigning some Lithocolletinae species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) to their proper genera
Author
Eiseman, Charles S.
Author
Davis, Donald R.
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-03-17
4751
2
201
237
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4751.2.1
6d5c6a73-5675-46cf-98a4-ece6ddc8e121
1175-5326
3712951
7692DE47-FE0C-47CA-BF74-10302592AC5F
Phyllonorycter ledella
(
Walsingham, 1889
)
(
Figs. 40–42
)
Lithocolletis ledella
Walsingham 1889: 79
.
Phyllonorycter ledella
(Walsingham)
—
Davis 1983: 10
.
Leaf mine.
An upper-surface blotch, becoming wrinkled when mature (
Figs. 40–41
).
Hosts.
Ericaceae
:
Rhododendron columbianum
(Piper) Harmaja
,
R. groenlandicum
(Oeder) Kron & Judd.
Distribution.
Canada
: AB, BC, NB, ON, QC, SK, YT;
USA
: CA, ME, MI;
Greenland
.
FIGURES 40–42.
Phyllonorycter ledella
.
40:
Flat, aborted, upper-surface leaf mine on
Rhododendron groenlandicum
(epidermis torn, possibly by a predator, at upper left);
41:
Completed, tentiform mine;
42:
Head and forewing illustration.
Review.
Walsingham (1889)
reared the
type
series from “somewhat folded mines, occupying the whole upper side of leaves of
Ledum glandulosum
” (=
Rhododendron columbianum
) collected in Mendocino Co., California. This species has since been recorded from Quebec and
Greenland
, where it has been reared from
Rhododendron groenlandicum
(
Handfield 1997
;
Karsholt
et al.
2015
;
De Prins & De Prins 2019
), as well as from British Columbia (
Pohl
et al
. 2015
), Yukon, Alberta, and Ontario (
Pohl
et al
. 2018
). An aborted mine on
R. groenlandicum
apparently representing
Phyllonorycter ledella
was photographed in Saskatchewan (
Dombroskie 2017
), and
Adam (2019)
reared adults from this host in New Brunswick (Fredericton, York Co.).
Karsholt
et al.
(2015)
stated that the distribution of
P. ledella
includes “north-eastern and western
USA
,” but apart from
Michigan
specimens listed in Appendix 1 of
Landry
et al
. (2013)
, there are no specific literature records from states other than
California
. CSE has found old mines on
R. groenlandicum
in
Maine
(Steuben,
Washington
Co.;
Figs. 40–41
).
Comments.
In
Greenland
it has been suggested that
Phyllonorycter ledella
may have a two-year life cycle, with larvae hibernating in non-deciduous leaves (
Karsholt
et al.
2015
). Adults have been found in
Greenland
from late July to early August. The available records from
Canada
and the
US
similarly only account for one generation:
Dombroskie (2011)
photographed what appears to be a mine containing a feeding larva of
P. ledella
in Ontario on 8 May; the Quebec specimen shown by
De Prins & De Prins (2019)
was reared from a larva or pupa collected on 10 May (the adult emerged on 29 May according to J.-F. Landry,
in litt.
); the New Brunswick specimens emerged from 15 to 18 June from mines collected on 22 May (
Adam 2019
); and the
type
series emerged in June from mines collected in the same month (
Walsingham 1889
).