Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2025-08-22
Page range: 530-542
Abstract views: 82
PDF downloaded: 4

A new species of Urodeta Stainton (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae) mining leaves of button mangrove (Combretaceae: Conocarpus erectus L.) in Florida and the Caribbean

276 Old Wendell Rd.; Northfield; MA 01360; U.S.A.
New York; NY; U.S.A.
School of Life Sciences; 3190 Maile Way; University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; Honolulu; HI 96822; U.S.A.
5306 Pelham Road; Durham; NC 27713; U.S.A.
Lepidoptera green buttonwood Gelechioidea Elachistinae iNaturalist

Abstract

Urodeta conocarpi Eiseman, spec. nov. (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae) is described from specimens reared from larvae found mining leaves of Conocarpus erectus L. (Combretaceae) in the Florida Keys. The leaf mine, larva, and pupa are illustrated. Similar leaf mines are reported from elsewhere in southern Florida as well as the Bahamas. This is the first record of Urodeta Stainton from the USA, the second species known from the Neotropical region, and the third to be reared, out of 29 species now known worldwide (of which one remains unnamed).

 

References

  1. Eiseman, C.S. (2021) Gelechioid leafminers. I.N.G.A., 10, 17–22.
  2. Eiseman, C. (2025) Leafminers of North America. 3rd Edition. Privately published e-book. Available from: https://charleyeiseman.com/leafminers (accessed 18 July 2025)
  3. Ellis, W.N. (2025) Leafminers and plant galls of Europe. Available from: https://bladmineerders.nl/ (accessed 15 May 2025)
  4. Hering, E.M. (1957) Bestimmungstabellen der Blattminen von Europa einschliesslich des Mittelmeerbeckens und der Kanarischen Inseln. Vols. 1–3. W. Junk, The Hague, xix + 1387 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3702-0
  5. Kaila, L. (2011) Elachistine Moths of Australia (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Elachistidae). Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Vol. 11. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 443 pp. https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643103481
  6. Mey, W. (2007) Microlepidoptera: Smaller families. In: Mey, W. (Ed.), Esperiana Memoir 4: The Lepidoptera of the Brandberg Massif in Namibia, Part 2, pp. 9–30. [https://www.esperiana.info/ESPERIANA-Memoir/Esperiana-Memoir-4/]
  7. Ratnasingham, S. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2007) BOLD: the Barcode of Life Data System (www.barcodinglife.org). Molecular Ecology Notes, 7, 355–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.01678.x
  8. Sruoga, V. (2024) The first Neotropical record of the genus Urodeta (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae: Elachistinae) with keys to the world species and a description of a new species from Honduras. Insects, 15, 941. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15120941

How to Cite

Eiseman, C.S., Ringer, D.J., Irvine, T. & Feldman, T.S. (2025) A new species of Urodeta Stainton (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae) mining leaves of button mangrove (Combretaceae: Conocarpus erectus L.) in Florida and the Caribbean. Zootaxa, 5683 (4), 530–542. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5683.4.4