Philodoria ureraella
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 ureraella

description: Philodoria ureraella (Swezey, 1915)
Figs. 25A, B, 33D, H–M, 53C, 54B, 55B, 60E, 78D, 95D–F.
Gracilaria ureraella Swezey, 1915: 94.
Parectopa ureraella (Swezey, 1915); Swezey 1928: 191.
Philodoria ureraella (Swezey, 1915); Zimmerman 1978a: 691, figs. 446, 453, 460.
Type locality. Mt. Tantalus (Oahu).
Type material. Lectotype ♂, Mt. Tantalus, Oahu, [15.iii.1914 or 16.iii.1915] O.H. Swezey, host: Urera [sandwicensis], |TYPE of Gracilaria ureraella Swezey [Type no.] 213| left bottom one of four types on the type mount, Type no. 213 in BPBM. [designated by Zimmerman (1978a)]. Paralectotype 10 (7♂, 1♀, 2 sex unknown). 6♂, 1♀, 1 (sex unknown), same data and locality as lectotype, SK676♂| BPBM 34350, ♂| BPBM 34351 (right bottom one of four types), BPBM 34352 (3♂, 1 sex unknown) |ex. serpentine mine| 34355♂ (top one of two types), SK 677♀ | BPBM 34360; 1♂, 1 (sex unknown), same data and locality as lectotype, bottom two of four types, SK742♂ in USNM. Described from 31 specimens: two series collected from leaf mines from Urera sandwicensis at Mt. Tantalus, Oahu: 13 specimens in March 15, 1914; and 20 more specimens from mined leaves of the same tree, on March 16, 1915 (Swezey, 1915). Swezey considered them as one species, ‘ ureraella ’ and described ‘wing pattern variation’: ‘~sometimes the whitish markings are pure white’ (= ureraella) (Fig. 25A, B) and ‘sometimes they are ocherous concolorous with the other ocherous portions of the wing’ (= new species, opuhe sp. n. in the present study) (Fig. 25C, D). Zimmerman (1978a: 673, fig. 446) designated the specimen that has whitish markings as the lectotype of P. ureraella from four syntypes on the single ‘type’ mount 213. We examined 70 paralectotypes designated by Zimmerman in BPBM and USNM of ‘ P. ureraella ’ and we recognize 10 of them as paralectotypes of P. ureraella. The remaining 60 specimens from that series are here described as a new species, P. opuhe which has ocherous forewings and a distinct broad valva and saccus.
Additional material. 8 (4♂, 3♀, 1 sex unknown). Maui Is., C.A. Johns leg., host: Urera glabra in BPBM: 2♂, 1♀, 1 (sex unknown), Iao Valley, 1& 9.viii.2014 (stored), 28.vii.2014, CJ316 / SK816♂, CJ337 / PHIL0005♂, 0006 ♀; 1♂, 2♀, Waikamoi, 2.viii.2014 (stored), 21.vii.2014, CJ324/SK817♂; 1♂, Maile Trail lower Waikamoi, 24.v.2016 (stored), Spring.2016, CJ541/SK815♂.
Diagnosis. The forewing pattern is similar to that of P. lipochaetaella and P. sciallactis, but is distinguishable by the lack of a 2nd costal ocherous patch; the male genitalia have a very slender and needle-shaped saccus; the female genitalia have a corpus bursae with some wrinkles.
Redescription: Adult (Figs. 25A, B, 33D, H–M). Wingspan 7–9 mm in type series; forewing length 4 mm in lectotype (Fig. 25B), 3–4 mm in paralectotypes. Head and frons white; maxillary palpus white, dark brown beneath; labial palpus white, with fuscous externally. Antenna ocherous, fuscous on apical fourth, 1.3–1.4 x length of forewing. Thorax white to ocherous. Forewing pure white with orange ocherous patches enclosed fuscous scales: an obscure basal patch at 1/7 with slender orange line from 1/7 to near middle; a large cp 3 from 3/4 to the middle, fuscous line of inside not reaching costa; one oblique dp 2 at 1/4 connecting orange line of basal patch, dp 3 about 1/2 reaching the middle of wing, connecting cp 3; apical portion orange ocherous with costal and near dorsal black lines from 4/5 to black as of termen; cilia orange ocherous mixed with fuscous scales; three white spots (a, b, c) at apex and fuscous apical patch at termen and a dark fuscous bl 1 from termen to tornus. Hindwing grayish fuscous, cilia paler. Abdomen grayish fuscous. Legs ocherous, fuscous above and tarsi barred with fuscous.
Male genitalia (Figs. 53C, 54B, 55B) (n=6). Capsule 780 µm. Tegumen 0.9–1.0 x length of valva; valva 540 µm long, tapering along costal margin from basal 2/5–1/2 to apex; apical half digitiform and slightly curved toward outer margin with small spines at apex; a set of short arranged spines along inner side of basal region (Fig. 53C). Saccus very slender and needle-shaped in ventral view (Fig. 54B). Phallus 570 µm long and nearly straight with developed coecum; cornuti in vesica indistinct (Fig. 55B).
Female genitalia (Fig. 60E) (n=2). 1230 µm long. Ostium bursae large; antrum large, cup-shaped with a pair of thick lateral lobes; lamella antevaginalis 180–190 µm, weakly sclerotized, trapezoid, widening toward anterior margin of A7. Ductus bursae slender and long, middle part weakly sclerotized, round and flat; terminus of ductus bursae tubular, biforked; middle part of ductus seminalis very broad. Corpus bursae 660 µm, oblong; anterior end of corpus bursae weakly sclerotized; paired rows of longitudinal, partly sclerotized wrinkles.
Distribution. Oahu (Swezey 1915) and Maui: new record.
Host plants. Urticaceae: Urera sandvicensis Wedd. (Swezey 1915) and U. glabra Wedd. is new record. The record of P. ureraella from U. kaalae Wawra (Zimmerman 1978a; after Swezey 1933) is incorrect, and that host record should be attributed to Philodoria opuhe.
Biology. (Fig. 95D–F). Larvae of P. ureraella that feed on Urera glabra form a slender tortuous linear mine (Fig. 95D, E). Two mines per leaf. The pupal cocoon is situated outside of the mine, Pupation occurs in the cocoon outside of the mine; usually on the abaxial leaf surface; a pupal cocoon is white, near ellipsoid (Fig. 95F).
Remarks. We removed a female specimen from the paralectotypes of “ P. ureraella ”, from the same mount of SK742♂ in USNM because this specimen is a Chedra sp. (Batrachedridae), not Philodoria (Fig. 96). Two Chedra species, C. microstigma (Walsingham, 1907) and C. mimica Zimmerman, 1978 were reported from Oahu and Hawaii (Big Island), and larvae of these species bore into Cyperaceae and Poaceae, respectively (Zimmerman 1978b). The unnamed Chedra species from type series of “ P. ureraella ” is distinguished from Hawaiian congeners in the having central fuscous patch and lacking three small fuscous dots in the forewing. It is possible that this mistake took place because Chedra pupae can resemble the pupae of Philodoria (Zimmerman 1978b). Swezey (1915) recorded parasitoids of “ P. ureraella ”, but these records cannot be attributed directly to what we treat currently as P. ureraella because they are reared from larvae and pupae of two species, P. ureraella and P. opuhe. Swezey (1915: 94) wrote: “From the lot of mined leaves collected March 15, 1914, 19 specimens of a new species of Sierola emerged; and from the lot collected March 16, 1915, two specimens, of Omphale [= Euderus] metallicus emerged, also 9 specimens of an undetermined Chalcid. Nearly as many parasites as there were moths.” Zimmerman (1978a) reported three parasitoids of ‘ P. ureraella ’; these are Bethylidae: Sierola pulchra Fullaway, 1920; Eulophidae: Euderus metallicus (Ashmead, 1901), and Pauahiana maculatipennis (Ashmead, 1901).
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 112-116, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4944.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4681813