A new distribution record, first host plant record and DNA barcoding of the Neotropical micromoth Astrotischeria karsholti Puplesis & Diskus (Lepidoptera, Tischeriidae) Author Vargas, Hector A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5355-3157 Universidad de Tarapaca, Facultad de Ciencias Agronomicas, Departamento de Recursos Ambientales, Arica, Chile lepvargas@gmail.com text Biodiversity Data Journal 2023 2023-12-19 11 115397 115397 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e115397 journal article http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e115397 1314-2828-11-e115397 2E699B30D20B548794BA0A623548E596 Astrotischeria karsholti Puplesis & Diskus , 2003 Materials Type status: Other material . Occurrence: individualCount: 2 ; sex: male ; occurrenceID: 4FCB30DA-EF41-5959-B20D-21C560A30886 ; Taxon: scientificName: Astrotischeria karsholti Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; higherClassification: Insecta; Lepidoptera; Tischeriidae; genus: Astrotischeria; specificEpithet: karsholti; scientificNameAuthorship: Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; Location: continent: South America ; country: Chile ; stateProvince: Arica; locality: Azapa Valley ; decimalLatitude: -18.52 ; decimalLongitude: -70.18 ; Identification: identifiedBy: Hector A. Vargas ; identificationRemarks: Genitalia slides HAV1680, HAV1681; Event: samplingProtocol: Male adults emerged October 2022 , reared from leaf mines on Ambrosia cumanensis collected September 2022 ; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionID: " Coleccion Entomologica de la Universidad de Tarapaca " (IDEA) Type status: Other material . Occurrence: individualCount: 2 ; sex: male ; occurrenceID: 98E275BB-728F-59D6-872A-79CFAFA3B21E ; Taxon: scientificName: Astrotischeria karsholti Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; higherClassification: Insecta; Lepidoptera; Tischeriidae; genus: Astrotischeria; specificEpithet: karsholti; scientificNameAuthorship: Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; Location: continent: South America ; country: Chile ; stateProvince: Arica; locality: Azapa Valley ; decimalLatitude: -18.52 ; decimalLongitude: -70.18 ; Identification: identifiedBy: Hector A. Vargas ; identificationRemarks: Genitalia slides HAV1088, HAV1405; Event: samplingProtocol: Male adults emerged November 2017 , reared from leaf mines on Ambrosia cumanensis collected October 2017 ; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionID: " Coleccion Entomologica de la Universidad de Tarapaca " (IDEA) Type status: Other material . Occurrence: individualCount: 1 ; sex: male ; occurrenceID: 831F005C-C567-5180-914C-B8D68CA49522 ; Taxon: scientificName: Astrotischeria karsholti Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; higherClassification: Insecta; Lepidoptera; Tischeriidae; genus: Astrotischeria; specificEpithet: karsholti; scientificNameAuthorship: Puplesis & Diskus , 2003; Location: continent: South America ; country: Chile ; stateProvince: Arica; locality: Azapa Valley ; decimalLatitude: -18.52 ; decimalLongitude: -70.18 ; Identification: identifiedBy: Hector A. Vargas ; identificationRemarks: Genitalia slide HAV119; Event: samplingProtocol: Male adult emerged April 2018 , reared from leaf mines on Ambrosia cumanensis collected March 2018 ; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; language: en; institutionID: " Coleccion Entomologica de la Universidad de Tarapaca " (IDEA) Taxonomic identification Five male adults emerged from the mined leaves of A. cumanensis collected in the Azapa Valley, all of which were identified as A. karsholti (Fig. 1 ), based on comparisons with descriptions and figures in Puplesis and Diskus (2003) and Stonis et al. (2018) . Distribution The discovery of A. karsholti in the Azapa Valley represents the first record of this micromoth in Chile, expanding the previously documented distribution range nearly 900 km to the southeast (Fig. 2 ). Host plant Ambrosia cumanensis is the first host plant recorded for A. karsholti . Leaf mines of A. karsholti were searched for on other members of Asteraceae growing in the study area, but no additional hosts were found for this micromoth. The egg is deposited on the abaxial surface of the leaf and the larva penetrates the leaf through this side. New mines are visible only from the abaxial surface of the leaf, while completely developed mines are partially translucent and, thus, detectable from the two leaf sides, suggesting that the larva eats a great part of the internal tissues of the leaf. The last instar constructs a well-delimited circular cell (nidus) inside the mine for pupation. Adult emergence occurs through a slit on the margin of the nidus (Fig. 3 ). DNA barcoding Genetic divergence of A. karsholti with other members of Astrotischeria ranged between 6 and 18.4% (K2P), with Astrotischeria trilobata Diskus & Stonis, 2018 and Astrotischeria sanjosei Stonis & Diskus , 2019, respectively, while it was 9.9% with A. chilei , the only Chilean congeneric (Suppl. material 2). The monophyly of Coptotriche , Paratischeria and Tischeria was strongly supported in the ML analysis (Fig. 4 ). In contrast, only 12 of the 15 analysed species of Astrotischeria formed a monophyletic group. The relationships in this group were poorly resolved, with the exception of A. karsholti + A. trilobata and Astrotischeria solidagonifoliella (Clemens, 1859) + Astrotischeria astericola (Braun, 1972).