Phyllonorycter argentinotella ( Clemens, 1859 )

Eiseman, Charles S. & Davis, Donald R., 2020, Wrong side of the leaf: assigning some Lithocolletinae species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) to their proper genera, Zootaxa 4751 (2), pp. 201-237 : 212-213

Phyllonorycter argentinotella ( Clemens, 1859)

( Figs. 27–29 )

L.[ithocolletis] argentinotella Clemens 1859: 319 , 325.

Phyllonorycter argentinotella (Clemens) — Davis 1983: 10.

Leaf mine. Normally underside tentiform ( Figs. 27–28 ); a single specimen was reportedly reared from an uppersurface mine.

Hosts. Ulmaceae : Ulmus alata Michx. , U. americana L., U. rubra Muhl.

Distribution. Canada: ON, QC; USA: CT, IA, IL, KY, MA, NC, PA, VT.

Review. The first records of this species are from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, where Chambers (1871d) reared it from underside tentiform mines on Ulmus americana ; Clemens (1859) had no information about the host or larval biology when he described the species. Chambers (1875c) reported rearing a single adult from an upper-surface mine that was otherwise identical to the usual underside mines. All subsequent records indicate that this species forms underside tentiform mines, including those of Frey & Boll (1873) from U. americana and U. rubra (as U. fulva Michx. ). Phyllonorycter argentinotella is also recorded from Massachusetts ( Hagen 1884), Illinois ( Godfrey et al. 1987), Connecticut ( Maier & Davis 1989), Vermont ( Grehan et al. 1995), Quebec ( Handfield 1997), and Ontario ( Pohl et al. 2018).

In Winneshiek Co., Iowa, CSE has reared this species from Ulmus sp. ( Figs. 27–29 ). In North Carolina ( Scotland and Wake Cos.), CSE and T.S. Feldman have reared it from U. alata .

Comments. Maier & Davis (1989) stated that this species is apparently bivoltine, citing collections of mines in Connecticut from 26 June to 15 July and from 28 September to 28 October. Consistent with these observations, Godfrey et al. (1987) reported adult flight dates in Illinois of 23–25 May (including a reared specimen that overwintered as a pupa) and 5 August, with a reared specimen emerging on 25 August. In North Carolina, mines have been collected on 21 June and 19 July with adults emerging on 23 June and 3 August, respectively, and mines of the last generation have been collected as early as 1 September with adults emerging the following spring. T.S. Feldman collected one underside tentiform mine on U. alata in Scotland Co. as early as 20 May, but the adult that emerged on 1 June proved to be P. occitanica (Frey & Boll) , a species originally reared from U. rubra (as Ulmus fulva ) in Texas ( Frey & Boll 1876) and with no subsequent literature records. In our experience the mine of P. occitanica is smooth to very finely wrinkled on the lower surface, whereas that of P. argentinotella has several to many distinct creases and may cause a significant buckling or folding of the leaf ( Figs. 27–28 ).

Figures

FIGURES 27–29. Phyllonorycter argentinotella reared from an underside tentiform mine on Ulmus sp. in Iowa. 27: Upper surface of mine; 28: Lower surface; 29: Adult.