Elachista saccharella (Busck, 1934)

(Figs. 1, 4, 45–50)

Donacivola saccharella Busck, 1934: 169 .

Dicranoctetes saccharella (Busck); Hall 1983: 521; 1988: 144. Elachista saccharella (Busck); Kaila 1999a: 169; 1999b: 93; White et al. 2007: 792.

Material examined: 2ɗ, 5Ψ, Ecuador, Tungurahua Province, 1 km E Banos, Rio Negro, mines 11.ii.2007, ex. p. 01–08.iii.2007, V. Sruoga leg. In VPU.

For external characters and genitalia refer to Kaila 1999b: 93; figs. 151, 152, 278, 279, 362 and White et al. 2007: 792; fig. 1a.

Distribution. Cuba (Busck 1934), USA: Florida (Hall 1983) and Louisiana (White et al. 2007), and Ecuador (new record). According to Heppner (2002) this species is likely to also occur in Mexico.

Remarks. Previously the only known host plant of Elachista saccharella was sugarcane ( Saccharum) (Busck 1934; White et al. 2007). We found larvae mining the leaves of unidentified Poaceae grasses (most probably of the genus Muhlenbergia (Figs. 45, 46) growing on a roadside at an altitude of about 1800 m (Fig. 4). The larva makes a full-depth, straight, linear mine, which extends towards the leaf tip, about 10–13 cm long. It pupates in a flimsy cocoon (Figs. 47, 48) on the underside of a leaf. The cocoon varies in density and orientation of silk filaments covering the pupa. The pupa is highly modified, with lateral ridges produced into short or long curved acute spines (Figs. 49, 50).