Holcocera crassicornella Dietz, 1910

Martinez, Jose I., Crane, Jonathan H., Wasielewski, Jeff, Miller, Jacqueline Y. & Carrillo, Daniel, 2019, Lepidoptera pests of sapodilla (Manilkara zapota (L.) van Royen) in south Florida, with some comments on life history and natural control, Insecta Mundi 739 (739), pp. 1-26 : 6

Holcocera crassicornella Dietz, 1910

Blastobasis eriobotryae Busck, 1915

Holcocera crassicornella was described by W. G. Dietz (1910) from a single specimen found in Florida in the USNM collection.

Description. Egg. Remarkable small size; completely pearly white and turning dark-pink close to emergence. Larva. First and second instars dark-yellow, thorax and head dark-brown. Third to seventh instars dark grayish-brown, head nearly black. Last instar length 2.9–3.5 mm ( Fig. 1C ). Pre-pupa. Similar in size to last instar, but body dark grayish-purple; head brown. Pupa. Dark-brown; spiracles protruding from the body like spines. Adult. Not sexually dimorphic. Wing expanse: 4.2–5.1 mm. Wings. Dorsal surface: Forewings c ompletely gray with overlaid dark-gray scales; a black discal spot; two postdiscal black spots. Hindwings, pale-gray; fringe with very long gray scales. Ventral surface: Both wings pale-gray. Head. Antennae: Filiform; the scape large, flattened and inwardly concave. Vertex: Tawny. Mouthparts: Labial palpi tawny with second and third segment longer than first. Body. Thorax and abdomen: Tawny; dorsal view with horizontal row of small spines at the posterior margin of each segment. Legs: Similar to labial palpi in coloration ( Fig. 2C ).

Distribution. Southern Florida ( Adamski 1998).

Hosts. Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. (Rosaceae) and Acer rubrum L. ( Sapindaceae ) ( Busck 1915; Adamski 1998). Manilkara sapota (L.) van Royen, new host record.

Natural history. The adults are nocturnal and reach their highest population levels from late spring (June) to early summer (July) in Florida. Females lay their eggs inside the flowers. The larvae develop inside the flowers feeding on everything except the sepals. The larvae produce silk tunnels among flowers to avoid predators. The larval stage lasts 19–23 days depending on the availability of the food resources and can be extended for a longer period of time.

Pupation occurs inside the flowers where the larva rolls up a sepal and makes a silk cocoon. The pupal stage lasts 22–26 days.

Damage. Holcocera crassicornella is a serious pest in sapodilla, and during this study it was one of the most aggressive species, after B. argutula and P. erigens . The damage is very similar to P. erigens ; we saw many larvae of H. crassicornella and to P. erigens .

Management. We reared two unidentified parasitoid wasps, a mymarid and a braconid, that parasit- ized eggs and larvae of H. crassicornella .

Figures

Figure 1. Larvae of Lepidoptera pests of sapodilla. A) Dichrorampha sapodilla Heppner. B) Comotia torsicornis Dyar. C) Holcocera crassicornella Dietz. D) Zamagiria laidion (Zeller). E) Electrostrymon angelia (Hewitson). F) Phidotricha erigens Ragonot. G) Banisia myrsusalis Walker. H) Banisia argutula Whalley. I) Pyroderces badia (Hodges). J) Erinnyis ello (Linnaeus).

Figure 2. Adults of Lepidoptera pests of sapodilla. The unlabeled images in the top half of the figure are to scale, whereas the labeled images in the bottom half of the figure have been resized. A) Dichrorampha sapodilla Heppner. B) Comotia torsicornis Dyar. C) Holcocera crassicornella Dietz. D) Zamagiria laidion (Zeller). E) Pyroderces badia (Hodges). F) Phidotricha erigens Ragonot. G) Banisia myrsusalis Walker. H) Banisia argutula Whalley. I) Electrostrymon angelia (Hewitson). J) Erinnyis ello (Linnaeus).