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Description of three new species of Phyllocnistis Zeller, 1848 ( Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae ), from the Atlantic Forest , south Brazil , with notes on natural history and phylogeny
Author(s) -
Brito Rosângela,
Mielke Olaf H H,
Gonçalves Gislene L,
Moreira Gilson R P
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
austral entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.502
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 2052-1758
pISSN - 2052-174X
DOI - 10.1111/aen.12298
Subject(s) - gracillariidae , biology , botany , lepidoptera genitalia , instar , begonia , larva
Three new species of Phyllocnistis Zeller (Phyllocnistinae) from the Atlantic Forest, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state of Brazil, are described. Phyllocnistis ourea sp. nov. is a leaf miner of Baccharis anomala DC. (Asteraceae) in the municipality of Montenegro. The other two species, P. phoebus sp. nov. and P. selene sp. nov. were found mining Begonia fruticosa (Klotzsch) A.DC. (Begoniaceae) and Drimys angustifolia Miers (Winteraceae) leaves, respectively, in the municipality of São Francisco de Paula. Information regarding the natural history of each species is provided. The specific status and phylogenetic relationships, including other members of Phyllocnistis , are inferred from DNA barcode (COI) sequences. Immature stages of the three species are typical sap‐feeding instars, followed by a final spinning instar. Differences found in pupal characters and the colour pattern of the fasciae of adult fore wings were stable and thus used to delimit these new species. Thus, five species of Phyllocnistis are now known from Brazil, four of them from the Atlantic Forest. For the first time, we recorded Begoniaceae as a host plant family for Gracillariidae.