Tegeticula antithetica

Last updated

Tegeticula antithetica
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Prodoxidae
Genus: Tegeticula
Species:
T. antithetica
Binomial name
Tegeticula antithetica
Pellmyr, 2003

Tegeticula antithetica is a species of moth in the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the Mojave Desert of the North American southwest, specifically southern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and western Arizona. [1]

The larvae feed on Yucca brevifolia . Most Tegeticula species, including T. antithetica, are monophagous, and the adult moths only live for a few days, so they must access the plant during the short flowering period. This indicates that moth populations would have to be locally adapted for the flowering periods their specific hosts. [2]

Godsoe, et al. (2008) presented convincing evidence for coevolution of Tegeticula synthetica and Tegeticula antithetica by showing the exclusive relationship between the two species and their respective populations of Yucca brevifolia, with antithetica being limited to Y. brevifolia var. jaegeriana. Perhaps most importantly, Godsoe et al. showed that only the reproductive features of the moths and plants have been evolving—ovipositor length and floral characters, respectively—and not body size or vegetative features, respectively. This indicates that only reciprocal sexual selection, and not extrinsic forces (such as climate, etc.), has been acting on the evolution of the two species. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Yucca</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the agave and Joshua tree subfamily

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of the Americas and the Caribbean.

<i>Yucca brevifolia</i> Species of plant

Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coevolution</span> Two or more species influencing each others evolution

In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well as gene-culture coevolution.

The Prodoxidae are a family of moths, generally small in size and nondescript in appearance. They include species of moderate pest status, such as the currant shoot borer, and others of considerable ecological and evolutionary interest, such as various species of "yucca moths".

<i>Yucca filamentosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Yucca filamentosa, Adam’s needle and thread, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae native to the southeastern United States. Growing to 3 metres tall, it is an evergreen shrub valued in horticulture.

<i>Glochidion</i> Genus of flowering plants

Glochidion is a genus of flowering plants, of the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 300 species, distributed from Madagascar to the Pacific Islands. Glochidion species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Aenetus eximia and Endoclita damor. The Nicobarese people have attested to the medicinal properties found in G. calocarpum, saying that its bark and seed are most effective in curing abdominal disorders associated with amoebiasis.

<i>Tegeticula yuccasella</i> Species of moth

Tegeticula yuccasella, the yucca moth, is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. The species was first described by Charles Valentine Riley in 1872. It can be found in North America from Texas to southern Canada.

<i>Upiga</i> Genus of moths

Upiga is a monotypic moth genus described by Hahn William Capps in 1964. The genus is placed in the family Crambidae, but has also been placed in Pyralidae. It contains only one species, Upiga virescens, the senita moth, described by George Duryea Hulst in 1900 and found in the Sonoran Desert of North America.

<i>Tegeticula</i> Genus of moths

Tegeticula is a genus of moths of the family Prodoxidae, one of three genera known as yucca moths; they are mutualistic pollinators of various Yucca and Hesperoyucca species.

Tegeticula californica is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found along the coast of southernmost California, United States.

Tegeticula baja is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in Mexico on the Baja California Peninsula.

Tegeticula intermedia is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. Along with other moth species, it is commonly known as a yucca moth. T. intermedia lives in North America, particularly the United States. The moth resides in the southwest, the Great Plains, the Southeast, and mid-Atlantic. It also has been found much farther north in regions of Canada like Ontario and Alberta. There are also notable populations present in New Mexico. Their habitats are diverse and vary in terms of climate, landscape, and other factors. The moth lives in sand dunes, forests, glades, grassland, desert, and forests from the East Coast to the Southwest. Yucca moths have developed a strong mutualism with the yucca plant, such that both depend on each other for survival. The yucca moths and yucca plants have coevolved over millions of years. However, Tegeticula intermedia differs from most yucca moths in that it exhibits cheating behavior by laying eggs without pollinating the yucca plant.

Tegeticula corruptrix is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in North America in south-western California, Arizona, New Mexico, northern Coahuila, western and southern Texas, Colorado, Alberta, the western plains of Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. The habitat consists of grassland, shrub desert, rocky hillsides, open pine forests and shrubby grassland.

Tegeticula cassandra is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in north-central Florida and bordering areas of Georgia. The habitat consists of open pine and pine-oak forests and open grassy areas with oak scrub.

Prodoxus praedictus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in the southern part of the Mojave Desert and bordering areas of the Colorado Desert, as well as in the central portion of the Joshua Tree National Park in California.

Prodoxus carnerosanellus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the Big Bend region of western Texas, United States. It is probably also present in Mexico.

Prodoxus weethumpi is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in the south-western and north-eastern edges of the Mojave Desert in southern California and Nevada, north-western Arizona and south-western Utah.

Prodoxus californicus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found along the coast of southern California, United States.

Prodoxus coloradensis is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. In North America it is found from the Colorado Plateau in the north to northern Sonora in the south, east to the Big Bend region of Texas and west to the coastal range of southern California.

Prodoxus atascosanellus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found from the Houston area of coastal Texas in the United States, south to the Mexican state of Michoacán, and west to the state of Durango.

References

  1. Pellmyr, O.; Segraves, K. A. (2003). "Pollinator Divergence within an Obligate Mutualism: Two Yucca Moth Species (Lepidoptera; Prodoxidae: Tegeticula) on the Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia; Agavaceae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America . 96 (6): 716–722. doi:10.1603/0013-8746(2003)096[0716:pdwaom]2.0.co;2. S2CID   54787256.
  2. Pellmyr, O. (2003). "Yuccas, Yucca Moths, and Coevolution: A Review". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden . 90 (1): 35–55. doi:10.2307/3298524. JSTOR   3298524.
  3. Godsoe, W.; Yoder, J. B.; Smith, C. I.; Pellmyr, O. (2008). "Coevolution and Divergence in the Joshua Tree / Yucca Moth Mutualism". The American Naturalist . 171 (6): 816–823. doi:10.1086/587757. PMID   18462130. S2CID   12410715.