Phyllonorycter, Hübner, 1822

Kirichenko, Natalia, Triberti, Paolo, Akulov, Evgeniy, Ponomarenko, Margarita, Gorokhova, Svetlana, Sheiko, Viktor, Ohshima, Issei & Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos, 2019, Exploring species diversity and host plant associations of leaf-mining micromoths (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Russian Far East using DNA barcoding, Zootaxa 4652 (1), pp. 1-55 : 32

Phyllonorycter sp. 7

( Fig. 14A )

Material examined. Russia: PK, Gornotaezhnoe , forest around MTS, 43.68N, 132.17E, 224 m alt., Ulmus glabra , 23.VII.2016, 1 pupa, NK550 , MK 403718 ; SO, Sakhalin Island, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk , BGIS, 47.05N, 142.74E, 57 m alt., U. davidiana var. japonica , 12.VII.2017, 1 larva, NK626 , MK 403715 , deposited in INRA.

Leaf mine. The mine is an elongated, significantly contracted blotch, strictly between the secondary veins on the lower side of the leaf ( Fig. 14A ). Later, the epidermis-covering mine becomes brown as usually happens to vacated mines, but in this case the larva is still present in the mine ( Fig. 14A ). Pupation in the mine.

Trophic specialization. Monophagous on Ulmus : U. glabra , U. davidiana var. japonica (Ulmaceae) .

Distribution. Russia: RFE—PK, SO (Sakhalin Island).

Remarks. BIN of unknown species—BOLD: ACN4282. No genetic divergence detected between the two DNA barcoded specimens of Phyllonorycter sp. 7 from Ulmus glabra and U. davidiana var. japonica . In BOLD, the closest neighbor to Phyllonorycter sp. 7 is an unidentified Phyllonorycter sampled from Ulmus in Taiwan, with minimal interspecific distance 4.9%, followed by the European species, Ph. tristrigella , 5.5%. In East Asia, five Ulmus -feeding species occur: Ph. bicinctella (Matsumura) (hosts: Ulmus davidiana var. japonica , U. pumila ), Ph. laciniatae (Kumata) ( U. davidiana var. japonica , U. laciniata , U. pumila ), Ph. pumilae (Ermolaev) ( U. pumila ), Ph. ulmi (Kumata) ( U. davidiana , U. davidiana var. japonica , U. laciniata , Zelkova serrata , and Ph. valentina (Ermolaev) ( U. davidiana var. japonica , U. macrocarpa ) ( De Prins & De Prins 2018). Among these species, the sequences of two species, Ph. pumilae and P. ulmi , are only available in genetic databases. The minimum interspecific divergence between Phyllonorycter sp. 7 and the two species Ph. ulmi and Ph. pumila reaches 7.5% and 12.2%., respectively ( Table 2 ). Phyllonorycter sp. 7 may potentially be Ph. laciniatae that develops on U. davidiana var. japonica in East Asia, but less likely Ph. bicinctella or Ph. valentina that feed on other Ulmus species.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Mines, leaf shelters and pupation sites of Phyllonorycter, Chrysaster and Cameraria spp. from the Russian Far East. (A) Phyllonorycter sp. 7, host plant Ulmus glabra; (B–C) Phyllonorycter sp. 8, Juglans mandshurica; (D–E) Chrysaster hagicola, Lespedeza bicolor; (F–G) Cameraria niphonica, Acer pseudosieboldianum and A. caudatum subsp. ukurundense, respectively; (H) Phyllocnistis sp. 1, Salix sp. Indications: (m) mine; (b) blotch part of the mine; (t) epidermal tunnel; (l) larva; (p) pupation site. Close up: (C–G) mine; (H) pupation site. Sampling locations: (A) SO, Sakhalin Isl., Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 11–20.VII.2017; (B–H) PK, Gornotaezhnoe, MTS and forest, 22–26.VII.2016.