Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): first record from Chile and a newly documented host plant

Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): primeiro registro para o Chile e novo registro de planta hospedeira

Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): first record from Chile and a newly documented host plant

Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): primeiro registro para o Chile e novo registro de planta hospedeira

Héctor A. Vargas^I

^IDepartamento de Recursos Ambientales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Tarapacá, Casilla 6-D, Arica, Chile. [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): first record from Chile and a newly documented host plant. Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham, 1892 (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) is recorded for the first time from Chile. Male and female adults were reared from leaf-tying larvae collected on Myrica pavonis (Myricaceae), which is a new host plant record for S. smithiana.

KEYWORDS. Myrica pavonis; Neotropical; Olethreutinae; taxonomy.

RESUMO

Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): primeiro registro para o Chile e novo registro de planta hospedeira. Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham, 1892 (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) é registrada pela primeira vez para o Chile. Esta é também a primeira menção de Strepsicrates Meyrick, 1888 para o Chile. Macho e fêmea adultos foram criados de larvas coletadas em Myrica pavonis (Myricaceae), que é um novo registro de planta hospedeira para S. smithiana.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE. Myrica pavonis; Neotropical; Olethreutinae; taxonomia.

The Tortricidae fauna of Chile was recently reviewed by Razowski & Pelz (2010), who recorded 86 species from the country, most of which are endemic. Subsequently, one genus and two species were added from the coastal valleys of northern Chile (Vargas 2011). As with many other microlepidoptera, Tortricidae are poorly studied in the desert areas of northern Chile, mostly due to the minimal amount of sampling effort; only a few native species have been recorded from this area. However, the coastal desert of southern Peru and adjacent northern Chile supports a very interesting fauna, characterized by many endemic insects, including some microlepidoptera (e.g., Clarke 1987; Vargas 2010, 2011). Some widespread species also range throughout this area (e.g., Vargas 2007; Vargas & Parra 2006). Strepsicrates Meyrick, 1888, which is nearly cosmopolitan, is comprised of 15 described species. Although two species have been recorded from the Neotropics (Baixeras et al. 2010), the genus was previously unknown from Chile.

Leaf-tying lepidopteran larvae (Fig. 1) were collected in March, June and August 2010 on the native tree Myrica pavonis (C. DC.) (Myricaceae) in the Lluta Valley (18°24'S, 70°07'W), Arica Province, northern Chile. The larvae were brought to the laboratory and placed in plastic vials. Leaves of M. pavonis were regularly added until the larvae pupated. Pupae were concealed among leaves or among paper fragments tied by silk. Male and female adults obtained from pupae were pinned, labelled, and identified as Strepsicrates simithiana Walsingham, 1892, based on comparison with figures of the male and female genitalia in Razowski et al. (2008). In order to verify the possible presence of S. smithiana in other localities of the Arica Province, M. pavonis trees were surveyed in the Azapa Valley (18°34'S, 70° 00'W) and Codpa Valley (18°49'S, 69°44'W) in January and October 2011, respectively. The same collecting and rearing procedures were followed, resulting in additional specimens of S. smithiana.

Strepsicrates smithiana was described from St. Vincent Island, West Indians. It has been reported from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (Razowski et al. 2008), and on the mainland from Central America north to Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts. It has been recorded from Bermuda (Ferguson et al. 1991), and it was introduced into Hawaii for control of Morella faya (Myricaceae) (Zimmerman 1978). Recently it was recorded from the Bolivar Province, Ecuador (Razowski & Wojtusiak 2009). Thus, the new localities added here from the northern desert of Chile greatly expand the known geographic distribution for S. smithiana in South America.

Previous host plant records for larvae of S. smithiana are concentrated in Myricaceae and Myrtaceae (Ferguson et al. 1991; Brown et al. 2008). The only host recorded in northern Chile is M. pavonis, consistent with previously recorded host plants. Myrica pavonis is the only species of Myricaceae in the Chilean flora (Muñoz-Pizarro 1966). Its geographic distribution is restricted to central Peru and northern Chile (Rodríguez et al. 1983). The ravine of Imagua (20°06'S, 69°15'W), Iquique Province, approximately 70 km south Codpa Valley, has been identified as the southern limit of this tree in northern Chile (Luebert 2004). It is possible that the geographic distribution of S. smithiana is linked to that of the host plant, which also reaches the ravines of the Iquique Province.

Voucher specimens will be deposited in the "Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Santiago" (MNNC), Santiago, Chile, and in the "Colección Entomológica de la Universidad de Tarapacá" (IDEA), Arica, Chile.

Examined material. CHILE, Arica. Three males, three females: Lluta, Arica, Chile, May 2010, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, April 2010 (MNNC); five males, four females same data; one male: Lluta, Arica, Chile, June 2010, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, May 2010; one male: Lluta, Arica, Chile, September 2010, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, August 2010; two females: Azapa, Arica, Chile, October 2011, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, October 2011; one male, two females: Azapa, Arica, Chile, November 2011, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, October 2010; two females: Codpa, Arica, Chile, February 2011, H.A. Vargas coll.//reared from larva on Myrica pavonis, January 2011 (IDEA).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks Bernard Landry for kindly providing literature and John W. Brown for interesting comments about S. simithiana. This study was supported by project DIEXA 9710-10, Universidad de Tarapacá.

Received 25/11/2011; accepted 2/7/2012

Editor: Marcelo DuarteM

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Sept 2012
• Date of issue
  Sept 2012

History

• Received
  25 Nov 2011
• Accepted
  02 July 2012