Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417764
Research Project: Systematics of Beetles, Flies, Moths and Wasps with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: A new species of Diatraea Guilding, 1828, feeding on sugarcane from Nayarit, Mexico, and a lectotype designation for Diatraea magnifactella Dyar, 1911 (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Crambinae)

Author
item ROBLES-PEREZ, RAFAEL - Autonomous University Of Nayarit
item Solis, Maria

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2024
Publication Date: 11/6/2024
Citation: Robles-Perez, R., Solis, M.A. 2024. A new species of Diatraea Guilding, 1828, feeding on sugarcane from Nayarit, Mexico, and a lectotype designation for Diatraea magnifactella Dyar, 1911 (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Crambinae). Zootaxa. 5536(4):569-580. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5536.4.4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5536.4.4

Interpretive Summary: Sugarcane borers are distributed in the Western Hemisphere and feed on major crops such as sugarcane, sorghum, corn, and rice. A cryptic, new species was discovered from southwestern Mexico. It feeds on sugarcane and was previously thought to be D. considerata. We provide images for its identification. This research will be useful to biological control workers in Mexico and USDA quarantine personnel at U.S. borders who need to identify this economically important group of snout moths.

Technical Abstract: In 2022 and 2023, larvae and pupae of sugarcane borers in the genus Diatraea Guilding, 1828, were collected in Nayarit, Mexico, and reared to adult to identify them based on the morphology of genitalia. Although two species, Diatraea considerata Heinrich, 1931, and D. magnifactella Dyar, 1911, had been reported to occur in western Mexico, we discovered a new species of sugarcane borer, Diatraea nayritella Robles & Solis, sp. nov. It had been residing as a cryptic species and preliminarily identified as D. considerata. that also feeds on sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), but its distribution is restricted to Sinaloa, Mexico. Additionally, we designate a lectotype for D. magnifactella, new lectotype, from Orizaba, Mexico, to stabilize the name and identity of this species. The distribution of D. magnifactella is discussed.