Atteriini

Brown, John W., Dyer, Lee A., Villamarín-Cortez, Santiago & Salcido, Danielle, 2019, New larval host records for Tortricidae (Lepidoptera) from an Ecuadorian Andean cloud forest, Insecta Mundi 720 (720), pp. 1-12 : 6

Atteriini

Atteriini are among the smallest tortricid tribes in regards to species richness (about 100 species) and the largest in regards to size; i.e., the tribe includes the largest New World tortricids. The tribe is restricted to the Neotropical region with a single species ranging into southern Arizona ( Powell and Brown 2012). Although diverse and occasionally abundant, species of Atteriini are probably the least known tortricids in regards to larval hosts and biologies. Females of nearly all Atteriini have dense patches of conspicuous, modified scales on the venter of abdominal segments 6–8. In a brief note, Powell (1976) described the oviposition behavior of Templemania Busck, 1940 in which the female uses the scales to build rows or “fences” around the egg patch. This combined morphological and behavioral character complex provides the most convincing evidence for the monophyly of Atteriini.

Brown et al. (2014) provided the first published host records for the tribe, documenting nearly 100 hosts in 31 plant families for four species of Anacrusis Zeller, 1877 from Costa Rica. Kenji Nishida reared an undetermined species of Tinacrusis Powell, 1986 from Trichilia havanensis Jacq. (Meliaceae) in Costa Rica (vouchers in USNM); and an undetermined species of Archipimima Powell, 1986 was reared from Diospyros kaki L.f. ( Ebenaceae ) in Brazil (voucher in USNM). It is likely that all species of Atteriini are polyphagous; several have been reared on artificial diet in the laboratory by Jerry Powell (personal communication) from eggs deposited by field-collected females. In Ecuador, five species of Anacrusis and ten species of Sisurcana Powell, 1986 were reared.