Tag Archives: Gracillariidae

Philodoria nigrella Walsingham

Blackish Philodoria Moth (Philodoria nigrella)

This species was described in 1907; it was only known from elevations of about 610 m above sea level on the slopes of Mt. Kilauea in the Hilo District on the island of Hawai’i, Hawaiian Islands.

“Antennae fuscous, white at the apex. Palpi white, the median joint streaked with fuscous externally, the terminal joint fuscous beneath. Head fuscous; face yellowish white. Thorax blackish. Forewings black, with a slight brownish gloss, a white spot at the extreme base below the middle and three short, outwardly oblique, white dorsal streaks, one near the base reaching to the fold, the second before the middle, crossing the fold, the third, shorter, at about the end of the fold; a little beyond the third dorsal is an oblique, narrow, spatulate leaden gray costal streak, which is succeeded by three white streaks in the costal cilia before the apex; at the apex is a black spot, separated beyond it by leaden gray and below it by chestnut-brown, from a black curved line around the base of the leaden gray cilia which blend with tawny fuscous about the tornus. Exp. al. 9 mm. Hindwing blackish; cilia tawny fuscous. Abdomen blackish, white beneath. Legs blackish, whitish beneath; hind tarsi spotted with whitish.” [1]

The host plant of this species remains unknown.

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The species is known exclusively from the type specimens (two males) that were collected in 1895 and was never found since, it almost for sure is completely extinct now.

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Depiction from: ‘Fauna Hawaiiensis; being the land-fauna of the Hawaiian Islands. by various authors, 1899-1913. Cambridge [Eng.]: The University Press 1913’

(public domain)

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[1] Elwood C. Zimmerman: Insects of Hawaii 9; Microlepidoptera. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1978
[2] Shigeki Kobayashi; Chris A. Johns; Akito Y. Kawahara: Revision of the Hawaiian endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): its conservation status, host plants and descriptions of thirteen new species. Zootaxa 4944(1): 1-715. 2021

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edited: 15.02.2024

Philodoria spilota (Walsingham)

Haleakala Philodora Moth (Philodoria spilota)

This species was described 1907; it is known only from the forested slopes at elevations of about 1530 m above sea level of the Haleakala volcano on the island of Maui, Hawaiian Islands.

The species reaches a wingspan of about 0,7 cm; the head and the thorax are brownish fuscous, the abdomen is fuscous; the forewings are bronze fuscous with silvery white spots, the hindwings are brownish fuscous.

The biology and the host plant of this species remain completely unknown.

“The unique holotype is a faded, damaged female and not a male as Walsingham stated in his original description. Walsingham said that the type was “injured when being described”. It is badly broken – the hindwings and abdomen are glued to the fore part of the body; the head is badly abraded and glued to the thorax; the left antenna is missing.” [1]

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syn. Elachista spilota Walsingham

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References:

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edited: 18.03.2021

Philodoria pipturicola Swezey

Mamaki-mining Philodoria Moth (Philodoria pipturicola)

The Mamaki-mining Philodoria Moth was described in 1915; it is known only from the region around Punalu’u near the northeast shore of O’ahu, Hawaiian Islands.

The species has a wingspan of about 0,6 to 0,7 cm; the head is grayish fuscous, the thorax is slate gray fuscous colored, the abdomen is dark fuscous; the forewings are fuscous suffused with orange patches and some white bands, the hindwings are dark fuscous.

This is one of the species that was reared from mines, thus its host plant is established as the endemic māmaki (Pipturus sp.); the mine is a serpentine at the beginning and later becomes a blotch, the larva emerges from the mine to spin a light brown cocoon on some matching surface.

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The species was also recorded from Maui, these records however, were misidentifications with another species, the Haelaau Philodoria Moth (Philodoria haelaauensis Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara). [2]

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edited: 18.03.2021

Philodoria opuhe Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara

Opuhe-mining Philodoria Moth (Philodoria opuhe)

This species was described in 2021; it is apparently known from the Pu’u ‘Ohi’a (Mt. Tantalus) in the Ko’olau Mountains as well as from the Wai’anae Mountains both on the island of O’ahu, Hawaiian Islands.

The species is known to mine the leaves of the endemic ōpuhe spp. (Urera glabra (Hook. & Arn.) Wedd. and Urera kaalae Wawra).

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The species was originally included in the description of the Urera-mining Philidoria Moth (Philodoria ureraella(Swezey)), from which it, however, differs in several characters.

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[1] Shigeki Kobayashi; Chris A. Johns; Akito Y. Kawahara: Revision of the Hawaiian endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): its conservation status, host plants and descriptions of thirteen new species. Zootaxa 4944(1): 1-715. 2021

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edited: 18.03.2021

Philodoria costalis Swezey

Makaha Philodoria Moth (Philodoria costalis)

This species was described in 1934; it is known only from the forests of the Makaha Ridge at elevations of about 915 m above sea level on the western side of Mt. Ka’ala on the island of O’ahu, Hawaiian Islands.

The species reaches a wingspan of about 0,7 to 0,8 cm; the head, the thorax and the abdomen are tawny brown; the forewings are tawny brown and bear orange-colored patches.

The species is known to have mined the leaves of endemic māmaki species (Pipturus sp.); the sole description of its biology is the following sentence.:

“The larvae form “oval brown cocoons on the surface of the leaves ….” (Swezey, 1934: 525.)” [1]

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The species was not recorded during recent field work and might be extinct. [2]

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edited: 18.03.2021

Philodoria sp. ‘Hesperomannia’

Lanai Hesperomannia-mining Philodoria Moth (Philodoria sp.)

The Lanai Hesperomannia (Hesperomannia arborescens A. Gray) once occurred on the islands of Maui-Nui (Lana’i, Maui, Moloka’i) as well as on O’ahu; it is. however, now extirpated on the island of Lana’i; it survives today with less than 200 individuals on Maui, Moloka’i and O’ahu.

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A herbarium species of this plant species that had been collected on Lana’i was found to still harbor leaf mines, pupal cases and even pupae on the adaxial leaf surfaces, which can be assigned to the genus Philodoria. [1]

This genus is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and contains about 50 known species, most of which are restricted to single islands and are adapted to a single genus of host plant.

The only species known to be mining the genus Hesperomannia are the Hesperomannia-mining Philodoria Moth (Philodoria hesperomaniella Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara) from Maui and O’ahu as well as a yet undescribed species from Kaua’i. [2]

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It is thus quite clear that the moth remains found on the herbarium sheet originate from another, apparently now extinct species. [1]

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[1] C. A. Johns; N. Tangalin; K. Bustamente; A. Y. Kawahara: Evidence of an undescribed, extinct Philodoria species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) from Hawaiian Hesperomannia herbarium specimens. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 46, 55–57. 214
[2] Shigeki Kobayashi; Chris A. Johns; Akito Y. Kawahara: Revision of the Hawaiian endemic leaf-mining moth genus Philodoria Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae): its conservation status, host plants and descriptions of thirteen new species. Zootaxa 4944(1): 1-715. 2021

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edited: 18.03.2021

Dead as the Dodo – Holocene Extinctions

… about 5858 taxa have disappeared since the beginning of the Anthropocene era (since about 10000 BCE)

Tag Archives: Gracillariidae

Philodoria nigrella Walsingham

Philodoria spilota (Walsingham)

Philodoria pipturicola Swezey

Philodoria opuhe Kobayashi, Johns & Kawahara

Philodoria costalis Swezey

Philodoria sp. ‘Hesperomannia’