A review of the biological information published after 1980 is provided for three species of the genus Amaranthus: A. retroflexus L., A. powellii S. Watson and A. hybridus L. The three species are ...

The biology of Canadian weeds. 130. Amaranthus retroflexus L., A. powellii S. Watson and A. hybridus L.

Although both feeding and elimination of waste are imperatives for all animals, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have devoted considerable attention to foraging, while largely ignoring defecation. Many organisms, however, exhibit defecation behaviours that appear to have been shaped by natural selection in a range of ecological contexts. Accumulation of waste may pose particular challenges for animals that exhibit high site fidelity or live within enclosed spaces. In a taxonomically widespread but largely unexamined behaviour, many caterpillars that construct and inhabit leaf shelters ballistically eject their individual faecal pellets (frass) great distances at great speeds. Here, I show that elimination of chemical cues for natural enemies is likely to have been a driving force behind the evolution of frass ejection behaviour in skipper caterpillars; hygiene and crowding are less important in this system.

/pdf/good-housekeeping-why-do-shelter-dwelling-caterpillars-fling-2zd56f0sde.pdf

Good housekeeping: why do shelter‐dwelling caterpillars fling their frass?

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=systentomologyusda

The potential for spread of codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) via commercial sweet cherry fruit: a critical review and risk assessment.

The comparative ecology of conifer-feeding budworms in the genus Choristoneura Lederer (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in Canada is reviewed with emphasis on publications since 1980. Systematics and life history are updated and historical outbreak patterns and their current interpretation summarised. Recent evidence is analysed in the context of ecological interactions among three trophic levels; host plant, budworm herbivore, and natural enemies. The influence of weather and climate are viewed as modulating factors. The population behaviour of budworms is interpreted as the result of tri-trophic interactions that vary at different scales. The result of these multi-scale interactions is that despite shared phylogenetic constraints and common adaptations, different budworm species display different population behaviour because of specific ecological relationships with their respective hosts and natural enemies.

/pdf/comparative-ecology-of-conifer-feeding-spruce-budworms-3a5xtstldm.pdf

Comparative ecology of conifer-feeding spruce budworms (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

The Gelechioidea (>18 000 species), one of the largest superfamilies of Lepidoptera, are a major element of terrestrial ecosystems and include important pests and biological model species. Despite much recent progress, our understanding of the classification, phylogeny and evolution of Gelechioidea remains limited. Building on recent molecular studies of this superfamily and a recently revised family/subfamily classification, we provide an independent estimate of among-family relationships, with little overlap in gene sample. We analysed up to five nuclear genes, totalling 6633 bp, for each of 77 gelechioids, plus up to 14 additional genes, for a total of 14 826 bp, in 45 of those taxa and all 19 outgroup taxa. Our maximum-likelihood (ML) analyses, like those of previous authors, strongly support monophyly for most multiply-sampled families and subfamilies, but very weakly support most relationships above the family level. Our tree looks superficially divergent from that of the most recent molecular study of gelechioids, but when the previous tree is re-rooted to accord maximally with ours, the two phylogenies agree entirely on the deepest-level divergences in Gelechioidea, and strongly though incompletely on among-family relationships within the major groups. This concordance between independent studies is evidence that the groupings (or at least the unrooted branching order) are probably accurate, despite the low bootstrap values. After re-rooting, both trees divide the families into three monophyletic groups: a ‘Gelechiid Assemblage,’ consisting of Gelechiidae and Cosmopterigidae; a ‘Scythridid Assemblage,’ consisting of Stathmopodidae, Scythrididae, Blastobasidae, Elachistidae, Momphidae, Coleophoridae and Batrachedridae; and a ‘Depressariid Assemblage,’ consisting of Autostichidae, Xyloryctidae, Lecithoceridae, Oecophoridae, Depressariidae and Lypusidae. Within the largest family, Gelechiidae, our results strongly support the pairing of Anomologinae with Gelechiinae, in accordance with a recent study of this family. Relationships among the other subfamilies, however, conflict moderately to strongly between studies, leaving the intrafamily phylogeny unsettled. Within the ‘Scythridid Assemblage,’ both trees support an ‘SSB clade’ consisting of Blastobasidae + (Scythrididae + Stathmopodidae), strongly resolved only in our results. Coleophoridae + Batrachedridae is supported, albeit weakly, in both trees, and only Momphidae differ in position between studies. Within the ‘Depressariid Assemblage,’ both trees support an ‘AXLO’ clade consisting of Autostichidae, Xyloryctidae, Lecithoceridae and Oecophoridae. The monophyly of this clade and relationships therein are supported weakly in previous results but strongly in ours. The recently re-defined family Depressariidae is paraphyletic in our tree, but the evidence against depressariid monophyly is very weak. There is moderate support for a core group of Depressariidae consisting, among the seven subfamilies we sampled, of Depressariinae, Aeolanthinae and Hypertrophinae. We show that gelechioids have a higher total number and percentage of species that are saprophagous as larvae than any other apoditrysian superfamily, that saprophagy is concentrated primarily in the ‘AXLO clade,’ and that the ancestral gelechioid condition was probably feeding on live plants. Among the living-plant feeders, concealed external feeding was probably the ancestral state. The multiple origins of internal feeding of various kinds, including leaf mining (otherwise almost unknown in Apoditrysia), are restricted mostly to the Scythridid and Gelechiid Assemblages. The traits that predispose or permit lineages to adopt these unusual life histories are worthy of study.

Phylogeny and feeding trait evolution of the mega‐diverse Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera: Obtectomera): new insight from 19 nuclear genes

The late-instar larvae of about 185 species of the North American Olethreutidae are described and most of them illustrated. Included in these are many pests, such as Grapholitha molesta, Carpocapsa pomonella, and Spilonota ocellana on fruit trees, Paralobesia viteana on grapes, Ancylis comptana fragariae on strawberries, Laspeyresia nigricana in pea pods, Laspeyresia caryana in hickory and pecan nuts, Taniva albolineana in spruce needles, and species of Rhyacionia and Petrova on pines. Keys to species groups and to individual species are provided. Of the diagnostic and specialized characters listed, the most useful include the setae, the spinneret, and the shape of the larva, especially of its head and anal shield. The main characters are given for the postulated ancestral larva and for the highly developed larva. Most of the species groups are arranged according to the suggested phylogenetic relationship of their larvae, emphasizing the necessity of a revision of the family. Larvae of some genera previously difficult to classify, such as Pseudogalleria and Hystricophora, indicate the relationship of those genera to other groups; conversely, lack of relationship is clearly shown in other instances, e.g., between Carpocapsa pomonella and Carpocapsa saltitans, and between the two species Epiblema culminana and E. suffusana and other members of the genus Epiblema.

Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera)

This work is a continuation of that already published on the larvae of the Olethreutidae (now considered to be a subfamily, the Olethreutinae), and is to be used in association with the latter, since no larval characters as yet known separate the two subfamilies. Over 100 species of the North American Tortricinae are discussed, the late-instar larvae of 97 of these are described, and morphological characters of most of them illustrated. Many of them are well-known economic pests such as the spruce and pine budworms, the black-headed budworm, the omnivorous leaf tier, etc. Keys to tribes, genera, species groups and species are provided. The inadequacies of a taxonomic classification based solely upon adult characters are also demonstrated in an examination of the larvae of the genus Archips as presently established.

Larvae of the North American Tortricinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Larval sketches of some microlepidoptera, chiefly north american

The North American Aegeriidae are revised on the basis of the study of late-instar larvae of about 60 species. These species represent 20 genera in five tribes in two subfamilies: Bembeciini, Zenodoxini, Aegeriini and Melittiini in Zenodoxinae and Synanthedontini in Synanthedontinae. The presently recognized genera, Ramosia Engelhardt, Conopia Hubner and Thamnosphecia Spuler are reduced to synonyms of Synanthedon Hubner. Three new genera are defined by larval characters but are referred to only as Genera I, II and III. Larval characters for most of the species are discussed and illustrated; keys to species, genera and tribes are provided. Tribes, genera and most species are arranged in the text as nearly as possible according to their phylogenetic relationships as suggested by the larvae.

The North American Aegeriidae (Lepidoptera): A Revision Based on Late-Instar Larvae

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Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera)

Larvae of the North American Tortricinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Larval sketches of some microlepidoptera, chiefly north american

The North American Aegeriidae (Lepidoptera): A Revision Based on Late-Instar Larvae