Carposina hahaiella, Doorenweerd & Austin & Rubinoff, 2021

Doorenweerd, Camiel, Austin, Kyhl A. & Rubinoff, Daniel, 2021, First Confirmed Record of Leaf Mining in the Fruitworm Moths (Carposinidae): A New Species Feeding on an Endemic Hawaiian Clermontia (Campanulaceae), Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 53, pp. 11-19 : 13-16

Carposina hahaiella sp. nov.

Holotype. Figs. 1–3 . Female. Pinned, labelled: “ United States: Hawaii: Kauai: Alakaʻi x Pihea trail. N 22.1494 E –159.6153. 21.vii.2020. Leaf mines on Clermontia fauriei . e.l. 14.viii.2020. Leg. D., R. Rubinoff and C. Doorenweerd. DNA sample UHIM. DNA00096 , genitalia slide KAA #0390.” Deposited in the University of Hawaii Insect Museum ( UHIM).

Paratype. One female, pinned, same data as holotype, except em: 13.viii.2020. DNA sample UHIM. DNA00022 . Deposited in UHIM.

Differential diagnosis. Carposina hahaiella is among the smallest described species of Carposina in Hawaii. Only C. pusilla (Walsingham) , described from Oahu, and C. pygmaeella (Walsingham) , described from Hawaii island, have a shorter forewing length. Both of these species are known only from males but can be distinguished from C. hahaiella externally by the following: the forewing of C. pusilla is yellowish white and the forewing of C. pygmaeella is dark brown, whereas the forewing of C. hahaiella is chalky gray-blue. The small size of C. hahaiella (female FWL 4.1–4.3 mm) and its chalky gray-blue forewing ground color separate it from all other known Carposina in Hawaii. Carposina hahaiella may be superficially confused with C. gemmata (Walsingham) based on the wing patterning, color, and iridescence, but the latter has a horizontally oriented medial spot, which is vertically oriented in C. hahaiella , and the former is significantly larger with a wingspan of 22 mm. The leaf-mining life history on Clermontia also separates C. hahaiella from all other described Carposina in Hawaii with known larval habits. Like most, but not all, Hawaiian Carposina , C. hahaiella possesses a pair of deeply furcate two-pronged signa in the corpus bursae (signa are absent in C. gemmata ). Except for their comparatively smaller size, little else separates the female genitalia of C.

hahaiella from other species of Hawaiian Carposina .

Molecular diagnostics. Fig. 11 . The COI (3-P fragment) sequences are most similar to Carposina olivaceonitens

(Walsingham) samples from Maui, at 6.1% pairwise distance. However, C. olivaceonitens is polyphyletic in the phylogenetic tree in Medeiros et al. (2016). The sequence falls within a cluster of Campanulaceae feeders ( Fig. 11 ).

Description of adult. Male. Unknown. Female (n=2). Head. Frons, vertex clothed in gray-blue, smoothly appressed scales; vertex partially to completely obscured by large, concolorous supraocular scale tufts; ocellus, chaetosemata not observed; proboscis well-developed, naked; labial palpus approximately 1.5× width of compound eye, lateral surface with dark gray to gray-blue scales, second segment apically expanded, apex of third segment with white scales. Antenna approximately 0.7× length of forewing, filiform, dark gray; scape concolorous or slightly paler. Thorax. Scales on pronotum dark gray to black, gray-blue on posterior third; tegula similarly colored. Legs dark gray to black; spurs and joints of tarsomeres pale. Dorsal surface of forewing (FWL: 4.1–4.3 mm) with ground color chalky gray-blue with scattered black scaling; patches of uniformly black scales present at base, as a raised patch at end of discal cell (flattened in pinned specimens), and at regular intervals along distal half of costa; fringe dark gray. Ventral surface of forewing uniformly gray. Dorsal surface of hindwing gray, fringe gray; frenulum with two bristles. Ventral surface of hindwing gray. Venation similar to species figured in Zimmerman (1978) except for a more strongly developed M-vein in the discal cell of the forewing. Abdomen (n=1). Vestiture of abdomen entirely silvery gray. Genitalia ( Fig. 9 ) with ovipositor telescopic; papillae anales slender, short, ventral surface slightly roughened, covered in short- to moderatelength setae; posterior apophyses slender, long, approximately 2× length of sternum VII; anterior apophyses approximately length of sternum VII; sclerotized portion of sternite VIII incomplete medially, instead with a pair of posteriorly directed arm-like lobes which approach near each other distally but are not joined or fused; ostium broad, globose; ductus bursae with cestum-like structure present throughout entire length; wall of ductus bursae finely scobinate, appearing minutely reticulate; corpus bursae membranous with a pair of deeply furcate, two-pronged signa.

Larva. Figs. 7 , 11 . Body pale green, head capsule light brown. Chaetotaxy closely matching the family diagnosis ( Swatschek 1958): prothoracic shield with the L-group bisetose (as opposed to trisetose in Tortricidae ); abdominal segments with SV-group quadrisetose (as opposed to unisetose or bisetose in Pyraloidea); A8 with SD1 anterodorsal from the spiracle; and A9 with D1 closer to D2 than SD1; A9 without L2, L3. Prolegs sclerotized.

Host plant. Figs. 6, 7 . Clermontia fauriei H. Lev. (Campanulaceae) . Hawaiian name: Hāhā ‘aiakamanu.

Leaf mine. Figs. 6, 7 , 9 . The larva creates an irregularly shaped mine that crosses itself in early stages and often has tight coils with merging margin corridors, the final section is mostly linear. Dried leaves stored in UHIM. We found one to three larvae per leaf, the larva appears to enter the leaf from the underside, with some tearing in the lower epidermis adjacent to the point of oviposition. Frass pellets are irregularly deposited in the mine. The leaf mines resemble those created by the endemic moth genus Philodoria (Gracillariidae) , but there are no species of that genus known to feed on Campanulaceae (Johns et al. 2018) .

Parasitoid. Fig. 4 . We reared a single parasitoid wasp, tentatively identified as Pediobius sp. (Eulophidae) . The specimen is preserved in 95% ethanol, UHIM. DNA00075.

Etymology. The species epithet is a noun in apposition, composed of the Hawaiian name for the Kauai species of Clermontia , hāhā, and the suffix ‘-ella’ to denote its relatively small size and as a reference to the common use of this suffix in leaf mining moth families such as Gracillaridae and Nepticulidae .

Figures

Figure 11. Maximum likelihood tree inference of 724 base pair alignment of COI-3P sequences.KR and GU sample codes are NCBI GenBank accessions, UHIM codes refer to samples added here. K = Kauai, O = Oahu, Mo = Molokai, M = Maui, H = Hawaii.

Figures 1–7. 1. Dorsal view of holotype adult of Carposina hahaiella in resting position. 2. Angled view of holotype in resting position; red arrows indicate patches of black raised scales.3. Pinned holotype.4. Pediobius sp. parasitoid wasp (UHIM.DNA00075); identification by David Honsberger. 5. Host plant in its native habitat, note invasive kahili ginger plants dominating the undergrowth. 6. Leaf mines on Clermontia in the field. 7. Transmitted light view of live larva feeding in leaf mine.

Figures 8–10. 8. Composition of transmitted-light scans of dried leaf mines of Carposina hahaiella on Clermontia fauriei. Each leaf has one to three mines, some with a dead larva inside. 9. Holotype female genitalia, specimen UHIM.DNA00096, genitalia slide KAA #0390. 10. Slide mounted larva after DNA-extraction, UHIM.DNA00072, dorsal view of section with head capsule and prolegs.