Philodoria wilkesiella Sweszey 1940
Creators: name: Kobayashi, Shigeki
name: Johns, Chris A.
name: Kawahara, Akito Y.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Gracillariidae
Philodoria
Philodoria wilkesiella

description: Philodoria wilkesiella Swezey, 1940
Figs. 12D, 26N, 47A, 48A, 49A, 58A, 88A.
Philodoria wilkesiella Swezey, 1940: 464–465; Zimmerman 1978a: 718, figs. 467, 473, 480.
Type locality. Puu Kukui (Maui).
Type material. Lectotype ♂, Puu Kukui, Maui, 20.xii.1928, O.H. Swezey Collector, Wilkesia grayana (= Argyroxiphium grayanum), | Holotype Philodoria wilkesiella Sweszey |, Type no. 4274 in BPBM. Paralectotype missing. Described from nine specimens reared from mines in leaves of “ Wilkesia grayana ”, Puu Kukui, Maui, December 20, 1928. Given the manner in which the description was written, Swezey considered these specimens as holotype and paratypes, as indicated on their specimen label. However, because a holotype was not formally specified in the description, the so-labeled holotype is to be considered syntype under Article 73.2 of the Code(ICZN 1999), and either is eligible for designation as the lectotype under Article 74 of the Code (ICZN 1999). We formally designate the specimen bearing the label ‘Holotype’ as the lectotype (Fig. 12D) and the remaining syntypes are paralectotypes. Zimmerman (1978a) illustrated the genital character with photographs: paratype male, slide no. Z-XII-19-62-18 8, fig. 473; paratype female, Z-XII-19-62-19, ostial plate (corpus bursae missing), fig. 480. We were unable to find the paratype specimens and genital slides in BPBM.
Additional material. 5 (3♂, 2♀) All specimens preserved in BPBM. 3♂, 2♀, Haelaau, Maui, 10.iv.2013 (stored), C.A. Johns leg., adult on Argyroxiphium grayanum, CJ 007 / SK647♂, CJ009 / SK648♂, CJ010 / SK649, CJ012 / SK650, CJ013 / PHIL0007♂.
Diagnosis. Brownish fuscous ground color with a number of white spots on the forewing (Fig. 12D). Philodoria pipturiana Swezey is similar in color pattern of its forewing, but distinguished from P. wilkesiella by its dark fuscous ground color and a white longitudinal basal streak (Fig. 12A–C). Genital characters of P. wilkesiella resemble Asteraceae-feeding Philodoria species, e.g., P. epibathra Walsingham and P. naenaeiella (Swezey). However, it differs in having a valva with a broad apical half and a shorter male saccus. The female has a semicircular shaped lamella antevaginalis and shorter ductus bursae.
Redescription: Adult (Fig. 12D, 26N). Wingspan 7 mm in type series; forewing length 3.25 mm in lectotype. Head white; frons white with some brownish scales; maxillary palpus reduced; labial palpus white with a few brownish scales externally. Antenna grayish fuscous, 1.2–1.3x length of forewing. Thorax white with brownish scales at the sides, white beneath. Forewing brownish fuscous with a number of white spots: three dorsal ones, the smaller one near base, two outwardly oblique larger spots at 1/3 and 3/5; a narrow elongate spot at about middle of the costa, two or three white costal spots towards apex, a small transverse white spot at apex and sometimes two or three small spots preceding this in apical area of wing. Cilia gray, dark at base, with a few white scales in vicinity of white spots. Hindwing uniform gray. Abdomen gray. Legs gray, with tarsi banded with white.
Male genitalia (Figs. 47A, 48A, 49A) (n=3). Capsule 620 µm. Tegumen 0.7 x length of valva; valva tapering along costal margin from base 2/5 to apex; along the inner side of valva, a series of small spines arranged; apical half of valva straight in lateral view (Fig. 47A). Saccus short, stick-shaped (Fig. 48A). Phallus 570 µm long, slender with developed coecum (Fig. 49A).
Female genitalia (Fig. 58A) (n=3). 890–900 µm long. Ostium bursae large; antrum cup-shaped with wavy pair of lateral lobes; lamella antevaginalis 160–170 µm, weakly sclerotized, semicircular in ventral view, widening toward anterior margin of A7. Ductus bursae thick, 270–300 µm. Corpus bursae small 560 µm; paired rows of wrinkles, some sclerotized.
Distribution. Maui (Swezey 1940).
Host plants. Asteraceae: Argyroxiphium grayanum (Hillebr.) O.Deg. (Swezey 1940). The host plant is located on the windy and rainy bogs of the summit of West Maui.
Biology. (Fig. 88A). Similar to Dubautia miners, in that its first and second instar larvae mine along the length of the leaf, following leaf veins. Pupation occurs in the cocoon inside of the mine terminus, usually with one or both extremities of the white cocoon exposed (Fig. 88A). Three mines per leaf. Adults were observed on the host plant surface during sunny and less windy periods, and then they retreated to the substrate beneath the plant once these conditions subsided.
Remarks. Zimmerman (1978a: 718) mentioned that “one of the few moths known to attack the extraordinary endemic composite Argroxiphium ”. We surveyed other members of Argyroxiphium with glabrous leaves, investigated type locality of this moth, and a population of A. grayanum on east Maui, but leaf mines were not found. We also checked some herbarium plant specimens of this east Maui population, and specimens of the extinct species, A. virescens. No leaf mines were found on these herbarium specimens.
description: Published as part of Kobayashi, Shigeki, Johns, Chris A. & Kawahara, Akito Y., 2021, Revision of the Hawaiian endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): its conservation status, host plants and descriptions of thirteen new species, pp. 1-175 in Zootaxa 4944 (1) on pages 59-60, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4944.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4681813