Cosmopterix victor STRINGER, 1930

Davis, Steven R. & Sinev, Sergej Yurjevitsch, 2008, Dancing behavior of Cosmopterix victor S, a species new to the fauna of China (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae), Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 58 (1), pp. 205-210 : 206

Cosmopterix victor STRINGER, 1930

Cosmopteryx victor STRINGER, Annls & Mag. nat. Hist. (10) 6: 416 (1930).

Cosmopterix victor: KUROKO, Kontyû 25 (1): 30, pl. 2, figs. 1 and 2 (♂ genitalia), pl. 3, fig. 3 (♀ genitalia) (1957); ISSIKI, Icones Heterocerorum Japonicorum : 39, pl. 7, fig. 159 (moth) (1957); KUROKO, in ISSIKI, Early Stages of Japanese Moths in Color: 106, pl. 51, fig. 203 (moth, mine, and larva) (1969); KUROKO, in INOUE et al., Moths of Japan 1: 270; 2: pl. 11, fig. 14 (moth) (1982); SINEV, Entomol. Obozr. 76 (4): 829, fig. 24 (♂ genitalia), fig. 61 (♀ genitalia) (1997).

Material examined: China: 2 ♂, Zhejiang Province: Tian Mu Shan , 30 June 2006, 1176 m, 30° 20.634' N, 119° 26.401' E, S. DAVIS (coll. IZCAS) ; 1 ♀, Zhejiang Province: ‘ Ost Tien-mushan , Prov. Chekiang, 27.5.1931, H.HÖNE’ (coll. ZMFK, Bonn) . Japan: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Kyushu, Hikosan ( Buzen ), 15.vi.1955, H.Kuroko (coll. ZIAN, St.Petersburg ) .

Distribution:

Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu) and eastern China (Zhejiang). New to China.

Biology:

Larvae mine leaves of Sasa japonica MAKINO , S. purpurascens OHWI , Phyllostachys bambusoides SIEB. et ZUCC. , and Arundinaria pygmaea MITFORD ( Poaceae : Bambuseae ) ( KUROKO 1957).

Dancing behavior ( Figs 1-3 )

Movements of the moth were never linear and consisted mainly of turns in which the caudal end of the adult would swing around more rapidly than the anterior end ( Figs 1 , 3 ), demonstrating a motion much like that of the windshield wiper on an automobile. The antennae were held at an approximate 30° angle from the lateral. In between these swinging motions were variable periods of spinning ( Figs 1 , 2 ), in which two general types of rotation movements were observed. One type of spinning, referred to here as type 1 spinning, involved the moth positioning its head at one spot while the remainder of its body rotated around this central axis in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The second type of spinning, type 2 spinning, was very similar to type 1, only the anterior end moved more and would not rotate around a single, fixed point. Type 2 spinning often immediately followed type 1 but did not always occur in this sequence. The number of rotations varied tremendously, with as few as 2 to as many as 18 rotations in one direction Movements were never restricted to any given areas of the leaf, but were sometimes slightly more concentrated in some areas, with a few locations being visited more than once where spinning previously occurred. The total duration of the dance was not witnessed, nor was the beginning or end, however dancing that was observed lasted for over 3 minutes and ended only as a result of the specimens being collected.

Figures

Fig. 1: Diagram of dance path on a leaf. Figure represents only a fragment of the entire dance.

Figs 2-3: Depiction of body orientation during dance. 2, body orientation during spinning; 3, body orientation during swinging motion.