Abstract
Several species of leaf-mining moths have become invasive in many parts of the world. Their success seems to be related, at least in part, to their small body size, short life cycles, high dispersal capabilities and relatively plastic host-plant associations. Here, we provide the first report of established populations of the elachistid moth, Elachista synethes, in South America (specifically the Azapa Valley, northern Chilean Atacama Desert). E. synethes is a widespread polyphagous species native to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. The immatures in the Azapa Valley were found associated with the South American native rescue grass, Bromus catharticus. Interestingly E. synethes is known to use B. catharticus as a host plant in the Australian region (i.e. where the plant is introduced but the moth native). In addition to comparing the morphology of immature and adult moths, we sequenced a partial region of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene from putative specimens from the Azapa Valley, and reconstructed a Bayesian phylogeny using representative species from different groups of Elachista as terminals. The specimens from Chile fell within the lineage of E. synethes, with 0% of genetic divergence. Thus, we hypothesize that this leaf-miner species was accidentally introduced into northern Chile, and has established there due to the existence of suitable host plants in that area.
Highlights
Lepidoptera is among the most diverse insect orders and one of the largest phytophagous groups
The results presented here clearly show that the elachistid specimens sequenced from the Azapa Valley are co-specific to those of E. synethes that have been sequenced from the Australian region
We argue that because of their small size and narrow width, E. synethes mines excavated by early instars cannot be detected
Summary
Lepidoptera is among the most diverse insect orders and one of the largest phytophagous groups. In a recent survey for leaf-miner moths in the Atacama Desert, Arica, northern Chile, we found in abundance a species of Elachista Treitschke (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae) associated with the rescue grass Bromus catharticus Vahl (Poaceae) This plant grows spontaneously in open fields in the more humid parts of the region, including artificial habitats in suburban areas, such as in the Azapa, Lluta and Codpa valleys, where it occurs occasionally. Some leaf-miner moths, for example in the gracillariid subfamily Lithocolletiinae, are invasive in many parts of the world (De Prins et al 2013; Lees et al 2011) This is due in part to their small size, short life cycles, high dispersal capabilities and relatively plastic use of host plants. A Bayesian tree was constructed based on sequences of the standard “barcoding” region (cytochrome oxidase I gene), and the results are presented here
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