Simacauda dicommatias (Meyrick, 1931) (Lepidoptera: Incurvariidae), a South American species established in Cornwall, new to the British Isles and unknown in mainland Europe, with first details of its biology

Abstract

An account is provided of the discovery of Simacauda dicommatias (Meyrick, 1931) (Incurvariidae) at 26 sites in Cornwall, England, all in the larval stage, being initially leafminers then case-bearers on South American members of the Myrtaceae, mainly Luma apiculata (DC.) Burret, with moths being reared, and species identification confirmed by genitalic examination. This is the first time that the species has been found in the British Isles and it is unknown in mainland Europe. S. dicommatias is native to Argentina and Chile where it occurs in Andean (Valdivian) temperate rainforests. The biology appears to be unknown there, although adults have been collected around stands of L. apiculata. The generic identity is additionally confirmed by a DNA barcode (658 base pairs) obtained from the abdomen of one specimen from Cornwall. This matches (within 1.69% divergence for 296 comparable nucleotides) a COI fragment on BOLD from a specimen collected in Parque Nacional Puyehue, Chile, which is there misidentified as Simacauda virescens Nielsen & Davis, 1981, but is 8.75% divergent from another two short sequences (correctly) so identified. It is known that William Lobb, whilst employed by James Veitch & Son, imported L. apiculata (now an invasive species in the British Isles), with one or more other Chilean Myrtaceae in the mid-1840s. It remains to be tested if S. dicommatias may prove to be the earliest known example of an established adventive insect accidentally introduced from South America to the British Isles.