Psychoides filicivora

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Psychoides filicivora
12.048 BF200 Psychoides filicivora. (5488515164).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Tineidae
Genus: Psychoides
Species:
P. filicivora
Binomial name
Psychoides filicivora
Meyrick, 1937
Synonyms

Psychoides filicivora is a moth of the family Tineidae first described by Edward Meyrick in 1937. First found in Ireland in 1909, it is possible that the moth was introduced from imported ferns from Asia. The moth can be found from spring though autumn in a series of generations. The species overwinters as a larva.

Contents

Life cycle

Larva

Psychoides filicivora, Trefor beach, North Wales, Sept 2013 (20335747634).jpg
Psychoides verhuella-filicivora larvae (16664499575).jpg

Larvae live on a variety of ferns feeding on the sporangia, or the lower surface of the frond, under the cover of sporangia spun in an irregular pile. The feeding signs of the similar fern-feeding moth, P. verhuella form a loose portable case out of spun sporangia and looks like misplaced sorus. [1] The feeding causes browning of the upper frond. Fully grown, the larvae are c. 4–5 mm long with a pale-brown head and a pale-brown posterial margin, which has a split in the middle. The pale-brown head, translucent prothoracic plate and pale-brown tail distinguish P. filicivora from the similar larvae of P. verhuella, which has a black head and black prothoracic plate. [2]

The following ferns have been recorded as food plants, [3]

Pupa

Pupa are found on the underside of a frond, usually in a tough white cocoon covered in sporangia. Sometimes uncovered. [4]

Imago

The moths can be found from spring to autumn in a succession of generations. The wingspan is 10 to 12 mm. They have pale patches on the tornus of their dark forewings which form an approximate diamond shape when the wings are closed. [5] [6] They tend to fly in early morning sunshine, late afternoon and at any time on dull days. Can be found in high numbers. Rarely comes to light. [7]

History and distribution

The moth was first discovered by Bryan Beirne at Seapoint, County Dublin, Ireland, which is the type locality. Specimens from the same locality, which had been collected earlier, were later found dating back to 1909. The first published record from elsewhere is from Bournemouth, England, in 1940, although it is possible it was found in c. 1856 by a Mr Drane at Caerphilly, Wales. He found larvae on wall-rue ( Asplenium ruta-muraria ), which at the time was identified as P. verhuella, but is much more likely to be P. filicivora. [8] Since 1940 it has been found mainly in coastal locations in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. [9] In the 1990s, the moth was found in undisturbed laurel forests in Madeira and may be a native species. There is a related species in Japan and most sources consider it possible that the moth was imported from Asia on ferns; but it could be endemic to Madeira, and imported to Britain and Ireland on ferns from there. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Asplenium</i> Genus of ferns in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium is a genus of about 700 species of ferns, often treated as the only genus in the family Aspleniaceae, though other authors consider Hymenasplenium separate, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, a different chromosome count, and structural differences in the rhizomes. The type species for the genus is Asplenium marinum.

<i>Asplenium platyneuron</i> Species of fern

Asplenium platyneuron, commonly known as ebony spleenwort or brownstem spleenwort, is a fern native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It takes its common name from its dark, reddish-brown, glossy stipe and rachis, which support a once-divided, pinnate leaf. The fertile fronds, which die off in the winter, are darker green and stand upright, while the sterile fronds are evergreen and lie flat on the ground. An auricle at the base of each pinna points towards the tip of the frond. The dimorphic fronds and alternate, rather than opposite, pinnae distinguish it from the similar black-stemmed spleenwort.

<i>Asplenium bulbiferum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium bulbiferum, known as mother spleenwort, is a fern species native to New Zealand only. It is also called hen and chicken fern and, in the Māori language, pikopiko, mouku or mauku. Its fronds are eaten as a vegetable.

<i>Asplenium ceterach</i> Species of fern

Asplenium ceterach, also known as the rustyback fern, is a fern species in the spleenwort family Aspleniaceae.

<i>Asplenium trichomanes</i> Species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae

Asplenium trichomanes, the maidenhair spleenwort, is a small fern in the spleenwort genus Asplenium. It is a widespread and common species, occurring almost worldwide in a variety of rocky habitats. It is a variable fern with several subspecies.

<i>Asplenium septentrionale</i> Species of fern

Asplenium septentrionale is a species of fern known by the common names northern spleenwort and forked spleenwort. It is native to Europe, Asia and western North America, where it grows on rocks. Its long, slender leaves give it a distinctive appearance. Three subspecies exist, corresponding to a tetraploid and a diploid cytotype and their triploid hybrid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carpet moth</span> Species of moth

Trichophaga tapetzella, the tapestry moth or carpet moth, is a moth of the family Tineidae, commonly referred to as fungus moths. It is found worldwide.

<i>Tinea pellionella</i> Species of moth

Tinea pellionella, the case-bearing clothes moth, is a species of tineoid moth in the family Tineidae, the fungus moths. This species has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring nearly worldwide.

<i>Asplenium montanum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium montanum, commonly known as the mountain spleenwort, is a small fern endemic to the eastern United States. It is found primarily in the Appalachian Mountains from Vermont to Alabama, with a few isolated populations in the Ozarks and in the Ohio Valley. It grows in small crevices in sandstone cliffs with highly acid soil, where it is usually the only vascular plant occupying that ecological niche. It can be recognized by its tufts of dark blue-green, highly divided leaves. The species was first described in 1810 by the botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow. No subspecies have been described, although a discolored and highly dissected form was reported from the Shawangunk Mountains in 1974. Asplenium montanum is a diploid member of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex," a group of spleenwort species and hybrids which have formed by reticulate evolution. Members of the complex descended from A. montanum are among the few other vascular plants that can tolerate its typical habitat.

<i>Asplenium pinnatifidum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium pinnatifidum, commonly known as the lobed spleenwort or pinnatifid spleenwort, is a small fern found principally in the Appalachian Mountains and the Shawnee Hills, growing in rock crevices in moderately acid to subacid strata. Originally identified as a variety of walking fern, it was classified as a separate species by Thomas Nuttall in 1818. It is believed to have originated by chromosome doubling in a hybrid between walking fern and mountain spleenwort, producing a fertile tetraploid, a phenomenon known as alloploidy; however, the hypothesized parental hybrid has never been located. It is intermediate in morphology between the parent species: while its leaf blades are long and tapering like that of walking fern, the influence of mountain spleenwort means that the blades are lobed, rather than whole. A. pinnatifidum can itself form sterile hybrids with several other spleenworts.

<i>Asplenium bradleyi</i> Species of fern

Asplenium bradleyi, commonly known as Bradley's spleenwort or cliff spleenwort, is a rare epipetric fern of east-central North America. Named after Professor Frank Howe Bradley, who first collected it in Tennessee, it may be found infrequently throughout much of the Appalachian Mountains, the Ozarks, and the Ouachita Mountains, growing in small crevices on exposed sandstone cliffs. The species originated as a hybrid between mountain spleenwort and ebony spleenwort ; A. bradleyi originated when that sterile diploid hybrid underwent chromosome doubling to become a fertile tetraploid, a phenomenon known as allopolyploidy. Studies indicate that the present population of Bradley's spleenwort arose from several independent doublings of sterile diploid hybrids. A. bradleyi can also form sterile hybrids with several other spleenworts.

<i>Batrachedra psithyra</i> Moth species in family Batrachedridae

Batrachedra psithyra, the spleenwort spore-eater, is a species of moth of the family Batrachedridae. It is endemic to New Zealand. This species has been observed in the North, South and Matiu / Somes Islands. This species inhabits overgrown grasslands or fern glades and have also been observed in gumland heath. The larvae of this species feed on fern sori including those on Histiopteris incisa. Adults are on the wing from November to January and tends to fly at sunset. At rest this species raises the front part of its body and when moving waves alternate antennae.

<i>Asplenium resiliens</i> Species of fern

Asplenium resiliens, the blackstem spleenwort or little ebony spleenwort, is a species of fern native to the Western Hemisphere, ranging from the southern United States south to Uruguay, including parts of the Caribbean. Found on limestone substrates, it is named for its distinctive purplish-black stipe and rachis. A triploid, it is incapable of sexual reproduction and produces spores apogamously. First described by Martens and Galeotti in 1842 under the previously used name Asplenium parvulum, the species was given its current, valid name by Kunze in 1844. Several similar species are known from the tropics; A. resiliens may have arisen from these species by reticulate evolution, but precise relationships among the group are not yet certain.

<i>Tinea pallescentella</i> Species of moth

Tinea pallescentella, the large pale clothes moth, is a moth of the family Tineidae. It is found in most of Europe. It is also present in western North America, where it has been recorded from California. There are also records from South America and Australia.

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

Nemapogon ruricolella, the gold-sheen clothes moth, is a moth of the family Tineidae. It is found in Great Britain, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Greece, Ukraine and Russia, as well as on Sardinia. The habitat consists of woodlands, heathlands and commons.

<i>Asplenium fontanum</i> Species of fern

Asplenium fontanum, commonly known as fountain spleenwort or smooth rock spleenwort, is a species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to rocky areas in Western Europe.

<i>Chalastra pellurgata</i> Species of moth, endemic to New Zealand

Chalastra pellurgata, also known as the brown fern moth or the pale fern looper, is a moth of the family Geometridae. This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1862. It is endemic to New Zealand and can be found throughout the country. It inhabits native forest. This species is extremely variable both in its larval and adult life stage. Larvae of this species are active during spring and summer. They feed on the fronds of fern species. C. pellurgata pupates by forming a thin cocoon on the soil amongst leaf litter and moss. Adults are on the wing throughout the year but are most common from September to March. During the day adult moths can be observed resting on dead fern fronds. They become active from dusk and are attracted to light.

Psychoides is a genus of moths belonging to the family Tineidae. The type species is Psychoides verhuella first described by, the French entomologist, Charles Bruand in 1853. Bruand also erected the genus.

Psychoides gosari is a moth of the family Tineidae first described by Seok Kim and Yang-Seop Bae in 2007 from pupae collected from Mount Hwaya in Gyeonggi Province. It is endemic to South Korea.

<i>Psychoides verhuella</i> Species of moth

Psychoides verhuella is a moth of the family Tineidae found in Europe. It was first described in 1853, by Charles Théophile Bruand d'Uzelle from a specimen from Besançon, France. It is the type species of the genus Psychoides, also raised by Charles Bruand in 1853. The larvae feed on ferns.

References

  1. Pelham-Clinton , p. 159
  2. Smith, Ian F. "12.048 BF200 Psychoides filicivora (Meyrick, 1937)". UKMoths. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. "12.048 Psychoides filicivora (Meyrick,1937)". British leafminers. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  4. Pelham-Clinton , p. 160
  5. Reinhard Gaedike, 2019 Tineidae II : Myrmecozelinae, Perissomasticinae, Tineinae, Hieroxestinae, Teichobiinae and Stathmopolitinae Microlepidoptera of Europe, vol. 9. Leiden : Brill
  6. Pelham-Clinton E.C., 1985.Tineidae. In: The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland (Heath J & Emmet AM, eds) 2: 152-207.
  7. Sterling, Paul; Parsons, Mark; Lewington, Richard (2012). Field Guide to the Micro Moths of Great Britain and Ireland. Gillingham, Dorset: British Wildlife. p. 78. ISBN   978-0-9564902-1-6.
  8. Pelham-Clinton , p. 160
  9. "Psychoides filicivora". NBN Atlas . Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  10. Pelham-Clinton , p. 160
  11. Goulding, Roger (2012). "Leaf-mining moths in Britain" (PDF). Pteridologist. 5 (5): 332–4.

Bibliography