Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298891
Title: Cracking complex taxonomy of Costa Rican moths: Anacrusis Zeller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Author
item Brown, John
item JANZEN, D. - Pennsylvania University
item HALLWACHS, W. - Pennsylvania University
item ZAHIRI, R. - University Of Guelph
item HAJIBABAEI, M. - University Of Guelph
item HEBERT, P.D. - University Of Guelph

Submitted to: Journal of Lepidopterists Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2014
Publication Date: 12/15/2014
Citation: Brown, J.W., Janzen, D.H., Hallwachs, W., Zahiri, R., Hajibabaei, M., Hebert, P.N. 2014. Cracking complex taxonomy of Costa Rican moths: Anacrusis Zeller (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Journal of Lepidopterists Society. 68(4):248-263.

Interpretive Summary: Caterpillars of moths of the family known as leaf-rollers cause billions of dollars in damage annually to crops, forests, and ornamental plants. This paper deals with five different species of leaf-rollers that were initially distinguished through the use of molecular methods and then confirmed using traditional anatomical characters. All five species feed on a wide array of plants and in many different plant families. This information will be valuable for ecologists studying food-plant associations in moths, for scientists interested in tropical biodiversity, and for USDA/APHIS and other action agencies responsible for detecting and excluding potenital invasive species at U.S. ports-of-entry.

Technical Abstract: Remarkably similar forewing patterns, striking sexual dimorphism, and rampant sympatry all combine to present a taxonomically and morphologically bewildering complex of five species of Anacrusis tortricid moths in Central America: Anacrusis turrialbae Razowski, Anacrusis piriferana (Zeller), Anacrusis terrimccarthyae, n. sp., Anacrusis nephrodes (Walsingham), and Anacrusis ellensatterleeae, n. sp. Morphology and DNA barcodes (i.e., the mitochondrial gene COI) corroborate the integrity of the five species, all of which have been reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica All species are polyphagous, with larval foodplants spanning many families of flowering plants. In ACG, the species occupy different forest types that are correlated with elevation.