Discussion
Becker (1981) synonymized A. vestalis (Zeller, 1873) with A. albulella (Walker, 1864), and he remarked that the lectotype of A. albulella and the available specimens of A. vestalis all had black discal spots. Zeller (1873) stated that the type of Cryptolechia vestalis had white forewings “ohne jede Zeichnung” (without any marking), but the hind wings are white like the forewings. The lectotype specimen, deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, MA, USA) is a female from Texas. Its forewings have faint black discal spots, and sternum VIII has the typical setose protuberances, which are visible without dissection.
Antaeotricha floridella is described as a new species because no other white species with similar genitalia were described by Meyrick (Clarke 1955), Walsingham (1909–1915), Walker (1864), Zeller (1854, 1855, 1873, 1877) or other authors. The West Indian Antaeotricha fauna is depauperate, with only three species (Duckworth 1969). Descriptions and illustrations of all species currently placed in Antaeotricha were examined, a task greatly facilitated by the illustration of Meyrick’s numerous species by Clarke (1955) and by the concentration of other descriptions among a few authors (e.g. Walker 1864; Walsingham 1909–1915; Busck 1911, 1920; Zeller 1854, 1877; see Becker 1984 for complete list). Almost all species are described as having some forewing maculation, and those without are some shade of brown.
The new species keys to couplet 8 in Barnes and Busck (1920: 238), requiring a new line, “forewings pure white without discal spots.” In the key of Duckworth (1964: 27), males run to couplet 13 (A. unipunctella or A. vestalis), and females run to A. osseella or A. unipunctella. New keys are provided below that include A. floridella and another species described after 1964.
Duckworth’s (1964) key is inaccurate as it pertains to the small, unicolorous species. In couplet 12 of the key, the “[g]nathos divided into two lobes at tip” could apply equally to A. osseella and A. decorosella (Busck, 1908 a) as well as to A. unipunctella and A. albulella; he correctly noted the “notched” condition of the gnathos in the species accounts. In couplet 14, the low subapical spine or tooth of the phallus (Fig. 11: s t) is stated to be present in A. osseella and absent in A. decorosella. In our dissections, the spine in A. osseella varies from sharply angulate to a low hump to entirely absent. In a specimen that appears to represent A. decorosella (MGCL slide 2166), a low rise is present. This specimen has many robust chaetae on the apical two thirds of the anellar lobe, which is diagnostic for male A. decorosella. Furthermore, the variation of the spine is as follows: A. unipunctella, absent or a low serrate ridge; A. albulella, a very low expansion but not an angulate tooth; A. floridella, present or absent. This variable character should be avoided for separating species.
Antaeotricha albulella, A. osseella, and A. floridella adults are active at the same time and location. John B. Heppner has caught all three species at the Welaka Forest Conservation Station, 28–31 July 1986. A male specimen each of A. albulella and A. floridella were collected at Pellicer Creek (Flagler Co.) on 10 April 1954 (CMNH). The road numbers in Ocala National Forest changed in 2008: Forest Road 88 is now 11, and 97 is now 09.
Antaeotricha floridella is known to feed on two species of oak: Quercus geminata and possibly Q. minima. The latter species may be misidentified, since it resembles juvenile or rhizomatous forms of other oaks (Nixon 1993). Host plants of A. albulella, recorded from pinned specimens donated to the FSCA by D.H. Habeck, include Quercus laevis Walter (turkey oak), Q. nigra L. (water oak) (with feeding habits “galls” and “leaf tier”), Q. incana W. Bartram (bluejack oak), Q. myrtifolia Willd. (myrtle oak), Q. inopina Ashe (scrub oak), and Q. chapmanii Sarg. (Chapman’s oak). The plant voucher specimens could not be located, so their identifications could not be verified.
Two plant communities in Ocala National Forest in Marion and Putnam counties, the sandhill and sand pine communities, have been collected extensively by TSD over the past several years using both mercury vapor light and ultraviolet light. Antaeotricha floridella occurs in both plant communities, as well as in strict scrub habitat with minimal canopy not surveyed by TSD. In the sandhill community, the common species of pine is Pinus palustris Miller (longleaf pine), and the common species of oak is Q. laevis. The leaves of turkey oak are deciduous, mostly falling in September and October, with a few leaves remaining on the trees during the winter. New foliage begins to appear in March and April. In the sand pine community, the predominant pine is Pinus clausa Chapman ex Engelmann (sand pine), and the common oak is Q. myrtifolia. In Ocala National Forest, myrtle oak tends to be a thicket-forming shrub. Leaves are “tardily deciduous,” meaning that a few leaves fall during the winter months, but the majority of leaf fall occurs during late February and March, just as the trees begin to flower and new leaves develop. Quercus geminata is also tardily deciduous (Godfrey 1988). The type locality of A. floridella has Q. geminata, Q. laevis, and Q. hemisphaerica in abundance, and Q. myrtifolia and Q. nigra in small numbers.
Extensive collecting in a large mesic forest near Anthony (Marion County, Florida) by TSD with mercury vapor and ultraviolet lights and sugar bait has failed to produce any specimens of A. floridella. This forest has large numbers of three species of oaks: Quercus virginiana Miller (live oak), Q. hemisphaerica Bartr. ex Willd. (laurel oak), and Q. nigra (water oak). The leaves of all of these species are tardily deciduous with primary leaf fall occurring in late February and March just prior to flowering and new leaf growth.
With minimal host information, it is open to question whether A. floridella is monophagous on Quercus geminata, oligophagous on oaks with overwintering foliage, or has more hosts. Sand live oak occurs in both plant communities and others in Florida. It occurs on the southeastern coastal plain from Virginia to Mississippi (Godfrey 1988), so the plant’s distribution cannot explain the moth’s restriction to peninsular Florida. On the other hand, a broader host range would predict occurrence in non-xeric habitats. The phenology of the immature stages is unknown, in particular of the overwintering stages. It is not obvious that A. floridella has adaptations to abiotic characteristics of xeric habitats, so affinity for some host is assumed.
A partly historical explanation for the peninsular distribution may be isolated evolution in habitat islands of sandhill and scrub (Webb 1990). Few Lepidoptera are known to be restricted to those habitats and also endemic to Florida. One moth species is known to be endemic to Florida rosemary scrub, a geometrid that feeds on Ceratiola ericoides Michx. (Deyrup 1989). Kons and Borth (2006) list 51 species of Lepidoptera that, based on preliminary evidence, may be dependent on the first kind of plant community (turkey oak-longleaf pine sandhills), but the majority of these also occur in similar habitats outside peninsular Florida. Comparable data are lacking for sand pine communities. Although most specimens of A. floridella were collected in longleaf pine sandhills or sand pine scrub, the specimens from Jonathan Dickinson State Park and Archbold Biological Station may have been collected in other kinds of scrub habitat (Myers 1990). It has not been found in collections (MEM, FSCA) from the ecologically similar Ohoopee Dunes in Georgia, although A. albulella occurs there. Kons and Borth (2006) discuss in depth the methods and caveats of associating species with xeric habitats based mainly on adult specimens, and they emphasize the need to test hypotheses of habitat dependence with further collection data.
The Antaeotricha albulella group (including A. osseella, A. unipunctella, and A. decorosella) is probably a recent radiation, with A. floridella as a peninsular vicariant. It is not simply a peripheral isolate of A. albulella, because it lacks the autapomorphies of the latter species (the broad gnathos and prominent SVIII pads). Preliminary genetic data corroborates the species’ distinct status. A specimen of A. floridella in the CNC, dissected by J.-F. Landry, has a slightly greater percentage distance than intraspecific clusters of A. albulella based on mtCO1 (J.-F. Landry, pers. comm. 2014). The sequence data are available at: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=MNAB391-07. Study of more genetic data should be useful to clarify the A. albulella group. All species and populations should be sampled and the data analyzed with character-based phylogenetic methods to discover diagnostic apomorphies. Collection of Antaeotricha specimens across known phylogeographic discontinuities in North Central Florida and the Panhandle could demarcate the northern limit of the distribution of A. floridella (Soltis et al. 2006).
Additional species examined. Dissected specimens of several other species were examined to construct the keys, except Gonioterma crambitella (Walsingham, 1889), figured in Duckworth (1964). Unless otherwise indicated, dissection slides are assigned MGCL slide numbers and deposited in FSCA.
Antaeotricha albulella: FL, Collier Co. Fakahatchee Strand, MGCL 1953♂; FL, Collier Co., USNM slide 76303♂ (NMNH); FL, Duval Co., USNM slide 76306♂ (NMNH); FL, Escambia Co., MGCL 1691♀; FL, Highlands Co., MGCL 1699♀ (FSCA), USNM slides 76318♀, 76252♀ (NMNH); FL, Hillsborough Co., MGCL 1686♂; FL, Lee Co., USNM slide 76304♂ (NMNH); FL, Levy Co., MGCL 1681♂; FL, Miami-Dade Co., MGCL 495♂ (FSCA), USNM slides 76302♀, 135307♂ (NMNH); FL, Polk Co., USNM slide 76301♂ (NMNH); FL, Putnam Co., MGCL 1697♂; FL, Sarasota Co., MGCL 1736♂; FL, Volusia Co., USNM slide 135306♂ (NMNH); GA, Emanuel Co. Ohoopee Dunes, JEH 2970♂ (MEM); LA, St. John Parish, MGCL 1671♀; LA, St. John Parish, MGCL 1747♂; MD, Kent Co., JEH 2756♂ (NMNH); MD, Kent Co., JEH 2765♀ (NMNH); NC, Craven Co., MGCL 1670♂; NC, Craven Co., MGCL 1793♀; TX, Anderson Co., JEH 2753♂ (NMNH); TX, Anderson Co., JEH 2754♀ (NMNH); VA, Virginia Beach Co., JEH 2775♂ (NMNH); [no locality], USNM slide 135305♂ (NMNH).
A. arizonensis Ferris, 2010: AZ, Cochise Co., MGCL 1733♂; AZ, Cochise Co., MGCL 1734♀.
A. decorosella: MO, Benton Co., MGCL 2166♂ (MGCL).
A. furcata (Walsingham, 1889): AZ, Gila Co., MGCL 1735♂; TX, Jeff Davis Co., MGCL 2074♀.
A. fuscorectangulata Duckworth, 1964: AZ, Cochise Co., MGCL 1728♂.
A. haesitans (Walsingham, 1912): TX, Hidalgo Co., MGCL 2065♂.
A. humilis (Zeller, 1855): FL, Alachua Co., MGCL 1677♂; FL, Marion Co., MGCL 1678♀.
A. irene (Barnes and Busck, 1920): TX, Hidalgo Co., MGCL 2066♂.
A. leucillana (Zeller, 1854): FL, Alachua Co., MGCL 1689♂; FL, Alachua Co., MGCL 1690♀; ME, Waldo Co., MGCL 2076♂.
A. lindseyi (Barnes and Busck, 1920): AZ, Cochise Co., MGCL 2075♂.
A. manzanitae Keifer, 1937: CA, El Dorado Co., MGCL 1731♂ (MGCL); CA, El Dorado Co., MGCL 1732♀ (MGCL).
A. osseella: FL, Alachua Co., MGCL 2077F, 2966F, 2967♂; FL, Escambia Co., MGCL 1676♀; FL, Highlands Co., MGCL 1675♂; FL, Marion Co., MGCL 1698♂, 2400♂; FL, Putnam Co., MGCL 1713♂; MO, Carter Co, MGCL 2164♂ (MGCL); MO, Carter Co., MGCL 2165♀ (MGCL); NC, Craven Co., MGCL 1711♂; NM, Otero Co., MGCL 1721♀.
A. schlaegeri (Zeller, 1854): CANADA, Nova Scotia, MGCL 2375♂; USA, AZ, Santa Cruz Co., MGCL 1702♀; FL, Alachua Co., MGCL 1687♂, 1688♀; MA, Plymouth Co., MGCL 2365♂; MA, Plymouth Co., MGCL 2366♀; MO, Barry Co., MGCL 2370♀; MO, Clay Co., MGCL 2367♂; NC, Craven Co., MGCL 2373♂; TN, Sullivan Co., MGCL 2374♂.
A. unipunctella: FL, Escambia Co., MGCL 1714♂; FL, Hernando Co., MGCL 2992♀; FL, Highlands Co., MGCL 2078♀, 2399♂; FL, Manatee Co., MGCL 1673♂, 2167♀; FL, Marion Co., MGCL 1674♀, 1712♂.
A. utahensis: AZ, Cochise Co., MGCL 1703♂; NM, Grant Co., MGCL 1720♂.
Autosticha kyotensis (Matsumura, 1931): FL, Santa Rosa Co., MGCL 485♂, 486♀; FL, Gainesville, MGCL 487♂.
Durrantia piperatella (Zeller, 1873): OK, Latimer Co., MGCL 1727♂; TX, Brewster Co., JEH 2761♂, 2762♀ (NMNH).
Gonioterma mistrella (Busck, 1907): MO, Barton Co., MGCL 1695♂; MO, Newton Co., MGCL 1696♀.
Inga cretacea (Zeller, 1873): MO, Barry Co., MGCL 2062♂; AR, Washington Co., MGCL 2063♀.
Pseuderotis obiterella (Busck, 1908 b): NC, Craven Co., MGCL 1726♂.
Keys to species
The following keys apply only to taxa with white or pale-colored wings (yellowish, pale orange, or beige) that are effectively concolorous. Species of Antaeotricha that have a dark shade on the the forewing posterior margin are excluded. Other stenomatines (Gonioterma Walsingham) and Oecophoridae that have similarly concolorous wings are included.
Key based on wing pattern
1 |
Forewing terminal spots present |
other Gelechioidea, including Durrantia piperatella, Pseuderotis obiterella, Autosticha kyotensis
|
– |
Forewing terminal spots absent |
2
|
2 |
Forewing transverse lines present |
3
|
– |
Forewing transverse lines absent |
4
|
3 |
Forewing pale yellow |
Antaeotricha
haesitans
|
– |
Forewing white, usually with scattered black scales |
Inga
cretacea
|
4 |
General color tan, beige, or yellow-orange |
5
|
– |
General color white or cream, at most pale yellow |
7
|
5 |
Forewing grayish tan and distally truncate; forewing with 1 spot at distal end of cell, another spot 2/5 along anal fold; hind wing often much darker than forewing |
Gonioterma
mistrella
|
– |
Forewing color variably tan, beige, orange, distally rounded in shape; forewing with one or two spots at distal end of cell but without spot on anal fold; hind wing never much darker than forewing |
6
|
6 |
Hind wing white or pale yellow |
Antaeotricha
unipunctella
|
– |
Hind wing pale tan or whitish fuscous |
Antaeotricha osseella, Antaeotricha decorosella
|
7 |
Forewing with scattered fuscous scales (may be microscopic), not including discal spots |
8
|
– |
Forewing without fuscous scales except, at most, discal spot(s) |
9
|
8 |
Forewing narrower (aspect ratio 3.67) |
Antaeotricha
utahensis
|
– |
Forewing broader (aspect ratio 2.85) |
Gonioterma
crambitella
|
9 |
Wings white with one or two gray or black spots on discal cell (occasionally worn); hind wings usually white, rarely pale gray; eastern Nearctic (New Jersey to central Texas) |
Antaeotricha
albulella
|
– |
Wings pale yellowish white with one dark spot on discal cell; hind wings same color; New Mexico and Arizona |
Antaeotricha
thomasi
|
– |
Forewings white without discal spots; hind wings always pale gray; peninsular Florida |
Antaeotricha
floridella
|
Key based on male and female genitalia (applicable only to pale-winged Stenomatinae and similar Gelechioidea in the Nearctic region)
1 |
Valvae without bifurcate setae; either signum with two long posterolateral arms (Autosticha) or ovipositor elongate (membrane connecting SVIII and papillae anales at least twice length of SVIII) |
Oecophoridae, Autostichidae
|
– |
Valvae with apically bifurcate setae; signum without long arms and ovipositor not elongate (membrane connecting SVIII and papillae anales at most the same length as SVIII) |
2
|
2 |
Valva without thumb-like process; apophyses anteriores elongate (Gonioterma) |
3
|
– |
Valva with thumb-like process; apophyses anteriores reduced (Antaeotricha) |
4
|
3 |
Phallus large and flared apically; cornuti in two clusters; lobes of anellus triangular with round lateral margins; female with one signum |
G.
mistrella
|
– |
Phallus small and broad; cornuti in one cluster; lobes of anellus very elongate and slender; female with two signa |
G.
crambitella
|
4 |
Uncus divided, at least in apical half; signum transverse (ovate or bilobate) |
5
|
– |
Uncus entire; signum shaped otherwise or absent |
9
|
5 |
Uncus deeply divided to base, appearing as two widely separated, pointed processes; sterigma (abdominal sternite VIII) with setose lateral areas pronounced as bumps |
A.
albulella
|
– |
Uncus divided to half its length or less, with processes apically flattened and round-edged; sterigma with lateral setose areas flat or barely raised |
6
|
6 |
Anellus with two lobes on each side, the interior lobe bearing many robust chaetae on apex and extended down the side; signum arachiform (peanut-shaped), distinctly narrower in middle than laterally |
7
|
– |
Anellus with one or two lobes; if two, robust chaetae concentrated apically, or phallus without single apical tooth; signum rhombiform, trapezoidal, or rod-shaped, but middle not distinctly narrower than either end |
8
|
7 |
Robust chaetae near apex of interior anellar lobe; phallus usually with apicoventral tooth; genital plate anterior of ostium with elevated extension posterior of ostium |
A.
osseella
|
– |
Chaetae more extensive, on apical 1/3 to 2/3 of anellar lobe; phallus without tooth; genital plate without elevated area posterior of ostium |
A.
decorosella
|
8 |
Anellus with two lobes on each side, the interior one bearing a few small chaetae at far apex, often fused with lobe; phallus with apical tooth; signum variably rhombiform or trapezoidal, without central denticle, only lateral denticles present |
A.
floridella
|
– |
Anellus with one or two lobes, if two, the interior lobe with larger chaetae on more than the far apex; phallus either without apical tooth or with elongate serrate ridge; signum usually rod-shaped, with one central denticle in addition to many lateral denticles |
A.
unipunctella
|
9 |
True cornuti absent but phallus with three pairs of lateral processes; signum absent |
A.
haesitans
|
– |
Cornuti present on vesica; signum present |
10
|
10 |
Uncus apically bifid; signum with four truncate points |
A.
thomasi
|
– |
Uncus apically pointed; signum with six truncate points |
A.
utahensis
|