Ailanthus webworm

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Ailanthus webworm
Atteva aurea 25.jpg
Atteva aurea feeding on Vernonia gigantea
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Attevidae
Genus: Atteva
Species:
A. aurea
Binomial name
Atteva aurea
(Fitch, 1856)
Synonyms
  • Deiopeia aureaFitch, 1857
  • Poeciloptera comptaClemens, 1861
  • Oeta aureraStretch, 1873 (misspelling)
  • Oeta compta var. floridanaNeumoegen, 1891
  • Atteva edithellaBusck, 1908
  • Atteva exquisitaBusck, 1912
  • Atteva ergaticaWalsingham, 1914
  • Atteva microstictaWalsingham, 1914

The ailanthus webworm (Atteva aurea) is an ermine moth now found commonly in the United States. [1] [2] It was formerly known under the scientific name Atteva punctella (see Taxonomy section). This small, very colorful moth resembles a true bug or beetle when not in flight, but in flight it resembles a wasp. [3]

Contents

Host plants

The ailanthus webworm is thought to be native to South Florida and the American tropics (south to Costa Rica), which were the habitat of its original larval host plants: the paradise tree ( Simarouba glauca ) and Simarouba amara .

Another tree called tree-of-heaven, ( Ailanthus altissima ), originally from China, has been widely introduced into landscapes and invaded into natural areas where Atteva aurea has been able to adapt to this new host plant, giving rise to its common name.

Ailanthus altissima is considered an invasive species, although it is still sold by nurseries as a yard plant, mainly because it is one of the few species that will grow in highly polluted or otherwise difficult places. Atteva aurea can be a minor pest in nurseries, although it rarely does serious damage.

Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree.jpg
Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree

Climate

This tropical moth is commonly seen in summer throughout the continental US, and occasionally eastern Canada (its northern limit is eastern Ontario and south-western Quebec beyond the host range). This species appears to be either adapting to colder areas, or staying further north due to changing climates. [4]

Life cycle

Larvae produce nests on the host plant by pulling two or more leaflets around a network of loose webbing. Then they consume the leaflets and bark. The caterpillars have a wide, light greenish-brown stripe down their backs and several thin, alternating white and olive-green stripes along their sides. The range of colors is from light brown to dark black. The adult moth visits flowers, is diurnal, and is a pollinator. The life cycle from egg to egg can happen in four weeks. Due to this being a species from warmer areas, it lacks a diapause stage. Larvae can be found from mid-spring to a hard freeze. There may be many generations each summer with eggs being laid on the webs of other larvae. This can result in a communal web that has multiple generations - from eggs to various larva stages to pupae. Mating happens in the mornings with egg-laying apparently happening in the evening. Eggs are found individually, not in clusters, even though each web may contain many separate eggs. [5]

Taxonomy

Wilson et al. (2010) discovered that morphologically similar Attevid moths were assigned two different names, Atteva ergatica in Costa Rica and Atteva punctella in North America, but had identical DNA barcodes. Combining DNA barcoding, morphology and food plant records also revealed a complex of two sympatric species that are diagnosable by their DNA barcodes and their facies in Costa Rica. However, neither of the names could be correctly applied to either species, as A. ergatica is a junior synonym and A. punctella a junior homonym. By linking the specimens to type material through morphology and DNA barcoding, they determined that the species distributed from Costa Rica to southern Quebec and Ontario, should be called A. aurea, whereas the similar and marginally sympatric species found in Central America should be called A. pustulella. [6] [7]

The name Phalaena (Tinea) punctella was recognized as a junior homonym almost immediately after its description but has been retained through several major works. [8] [9] [10] The two objective replacement names proposed were Tinea punctella (Fabricius, 1787) and Crameria subtilis (Hübner, 1822). The oldest valid name to replace Phalaena punctella is Tinea pustulella but this remained overlooked until recently. [11] Over time seven more nominal taxa were synonymized under Atteva pustulella, being Deiopeia aurea (Fitch, 1857), Poeciloptera compta Clemens, 1861, Oeta compta floridana (Neumoegen, 1891), A. edithella (Busck, 1908), A. exquisita (Busck, 1912), A. ergatica (Walsingham, 1914) and A. microsticta (Walsingham, 1914). There were early suspicions that A. aurea and A. pustulella might represent different species, the former distributed in the United States, the latter in South America, but at the time there was insufficient material to support this view (Walsingham 1897). A recent taxonomic review of New World Atteva introduced several nomenclatural changes and recognized three separate species within the long-standing concept of A. pustulella: A. pustulella, A. aurea and A. floridana. [12] The most recent treatment retains A. floridana as a synonym of Atteva aurea. [7] [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Atteva</i> Family of moths

Atteva is a genus of moths in the monotypic family Attevidae. The group has a pantropical distribution; however, the range of at least one species, Atteva aurea, extends into the temperate zone. No consistent hypotheses regarding the relationships, placement, and ranking of Attevidae have been published, but the prevalent view is that they likely form a monophyletic group within the Yponomeutoidea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urodidae</span> Small family of moths

Urodidae or "false burnet moths" is a family of moths in the lepidopteran order. It is the type genus in the superfamily, Urodoidea, with three genera, one of which, Wockia, occurs in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pterolonchidae</span> Family of moths

Pterolonchidae is a small family of very small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. There are species native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

<i>Argyresthia curvella</i> Species of moth

Argyresthia curvella is a species of ermine moth. It belongs to subfamily Argyresthiinae, which is sometimes elevated to full family rank in the superfamily Yponomeutoidea. It is commonly called apple blossom tineid, reflecting the fact that it was originally believed to be a tineid moth.

<i>Nemapogon granella</i> Species of moth

Nemapogon granella is a species of tineoid moth. It belongs to the fungus moth family (Tineidae), and therein to the subfamily Nemapogoninae. It is the type species of its genus Nemapogon, and via that also of the subfamily Nemapogoninae. It is also the type species of the proposed genera Brosis and Diaphthirusa, which are consequently junior objective synonyms of Nemapogon.

<i>Triaxomera parasitella</i> Species of moth

Triaxomera parasitella is a species of tineoid moth. It belongs to the fungus moth family (Tineidae), and therein to the subfamily Nemapogoninae. It is widespread and common in much of western Eurasia, but seems to be absent from some more outlying regions, such as Portugal and the eastern Baltic, Ireland and Iceland. It has also not been recorded from Slovenia but given that it is found in neighboring countries, it may well occur there unnoticed. Recently, the species was recorded from British Columbia. Generally, it is a moth of warm temperate regions, e.g. in Great Britain it is only a rare and scarce species from the English Midlands northwards.

Sisyracera is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. It was described in 1890 by Heinrich Benno Möschler with Leucinodes preciosalis as type species, now considered a synonym of Sisyracera subulalis. The genus has been placed in the tribe Udeini.

<i>Atteva pustulella</i> Species of moth

Atteva pustulella is a moth of the family Attevidae. It is found from Costa Rica, where it meets Atteva aurea, southwards to Uruguay and Argentina. It is also present in the Antilles. There are also several reports from Dominica, Jamaica, Haiti and Martinique.

<i>Atteva hysginiella</i> Species of moth

Atteva hysginiella is a moth of the family Attevidae. It is endemic to the Galapagos Islands.

<i>Atteva zebra</i> Species of moth

Atteva zebra is a moth of the family Attevidae. It is known only from Costa Rica and Panama.

Atteva gemmata is a moth of the family Attevidae. It was described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1873 and is endemic to Cuba.

<i>Simarouba amara</i> Species of tree in the family Simaroubaceae

Simarouba amara is a species of tree in the family Simaroubaceae, found in the rainforests and savannahs of South and Central America and the Caribbean. It was first described by Aubl. in French Guiana in 1775 and is one of six species of Simarouba. The tree is evergreen, but produces a new set of leaves once a year. It requires relatively high levels of light to grow and grows rapidly in these conditions, but lives for a relatively short time. In Panama, it flowers during the dry season in February and March, whereas in Costa Rica, where there is no dry season it flowers later, between March and July. As the species is dioecious, the trees are either male or female and only produce male or female flowers. The small yellow flowers are thought to be pollinated by insects, the resulting fruits are dispersed by animals including monkeys, birds and fruit-eating bats and the seeds are also dispersed by leaf cutter ants.

<i>Simarouba</i> Family of shrubs and trees

Simarouba is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Simaroubaceae, native to the neotropics. It has been grouped in the subtribe Simaroubina along with the Simaba and Quassia genera. They have compound leaves, with between 1 and 12 pairs of alternate pinnate leaflets. Their flowers are unisexual, relatively small and arranged in large panicles. Plants are dioecious, bearing only male or female flowers. The individual flowers have between 4 and 6 sepals and petals and between 8 and 12 stamens. The fruit is a carpophore and has up to 5 drupaceous mericarps.

<i>Sthenopis pretiosus</i> Species of moth

Sthenopis pretiosus, the gold-spotted ghost moth, is a species of moth of the family Hepialidae. It was first described by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer in 1856. It can be found in found Brazil, Venezuela and in the eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.

Lotisma trigonana is a moth in the Copromorphidae family. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from Alaska to Costa Rica.

<i>Kessleria orobiae</i> Species of moth

Kessleria orobiae is a moth of the family Yponomeutidae. It is found only in the Orobian Alps in the Bergamo Province in Italy. The habitat consists of rocky areas on calcareous and siliceous soil.

<i>Atteva fabriciella</i> Species of moth

Atteva fabriciella, the Ailanthus webworm moth, is a moth of the family Attevidae. It is found in China, India and Sri Lanka. It is considered one of deadliest plant pest on Ailanthus species.

<i>Oenoe hybromella</i> Species of moth

Oenoe hybromella is a species of clothes moth in the family Tineidae.

<i>Pococera militella</i> Species of moth

Pococera militella, the sycamore webworm, is a species of pyralid moth in the family Pyralidae.

Lusterala is a monotypic, neotropical genus of tortix moths provisionally assigned to tribe Grapholitini of subfamily Olethreutinae, with Lusterala phaseolana as sole species.

References

  1. "Ailanthus Webworm - blandy". blandy.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  2. "Species Atteva aurea - Ailanthus Webworm Moth - Hodges#2401 - BugGuide.Net". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  3. "Ailanthus Webworm Moth". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  4. "Ailanthus Webworm Moth Atteva aurea (Cramer, 1781) | Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  5. "Bugs in Orange and Black, Part I: An ermine moth, ailanthus webworm, Atteva aurea". Bug of the Week. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  6. "Maryland Biodiversity Project - Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea)". www.marylandbiodiversity.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  7. 1 2 Wilson, John James; Landry, Jean-François; Janzen, Daniel; Hallwachs, Winnie; Nazari, Vazrick; Hajibabaei, Mehrdad; Hebert, Paul (2010). "Identity of the ailanthus webworm moth (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae), a complex of two species: evidence from DNA barcoding, morphology and ecology". ZooKeys (46): 41–60. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.46.406 .
  8. Heppner, John B.; Duckworth, W. D. (1983). "Yponomeutidae". In Hodges, Ronald W.; Dominick, T.; Davis, Donald R.; Ferguson, D. C.; Franclemont, J. G.; Munroe, Eugene G.; Powell, Jerry A. (eds.). Check list of the Lepidoptera of America North of México. London: Classey. pp. 26–27.
  9. Covell, C. V. (1984). A field guide to the moths of Eastern North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 1–496.
  10. Heppner, John B. (1984). "Yponomeutidae". In Heppner, John B. (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist, Part I. The Hague: W. Junk. pp. 55–56.
  11. Heppner, John B. (2003). Lepidoptera of Florida, part 1, Introduction and catalog. Arthropods of Florida and neighboring land areas, vol. 17. Gainesville: Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. pp. 1–670.
  12. Becker, Vitor O. (2009). "A review of the New World Atteva (Walker) moths (Yponomeutidae, Attevinae)" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia. 53 (3): 349–355. doi:10.1590/S0085-56262009000300007.
  13. Feinstein, Julie. "The Ailanthus Webworm Moth" . Retrieved 2019-06-01.