marginatus

P. marginatus Riley

including P. pulverulentus Riley

Adult Characteristics

Wing expanse 8-12 mm. The smallest of all Prodoxus species. Forewing in northern populations white with a dark patch near the outer edge in the female, diffuse to absent in male; in southern populations, males generally have a gray streak parallel with the outer edge, whereas females have extensive dark scaling over the forewing, creating a gray shade over the wing. Hindwings uniformly light to medium gray.

Comparison with similar species

Mesepiola specca is similar in size, but differs in having interspersed rusty scales in both sexes, and in the female having the prominent abdominal hook.

Host, oviposition, and larval feeding habits

The species occurs throughout the range of its exclusive host, Yucca whipplei (Agavaceae). Larvae feed inside the basal vegetative portion of the host fruit and occasionally also into the adjacent pedicel portion. Pupation takes place inside the gallery.

Geographic distribution

The host occurs in central-southern cismontane California, in Sierra Nevada north to Fresno Co, in northwestern Arizona (USA), and in Baja California Norte (Mexico) to the Vizcaino region (Powell and Mackie 1966). The moth is known throughout the U.S. portion of this range, except in Arizona. The transition between the light and dark forms coincides in the transverse ranges with the northern range edge of P. cinereus.

Habitat

In coastal chaparral and montane dry shrubby grassland with Yucca whipplei (Agavaceae).

Typical habitat with old, fruiting Y. whipplei; Santa Barbara Co., California.

Phylogenetic notes

The light and dark forms were originally described as Prodoxus marginatus and P. pulverulentus, respectively. Davis (1967) retained this status with reservation. Powell and Mackie (1966) suggested that it represented geographically structured intraspecific variation. They proposed subspecies rank but did not formally describe them as such. Frack (1982) agreed with the judgment that the two taxa shouldbe considered one species.

References

Davis, D.R. 1967. A revision of the moths of the subfamily Prodoxinae 
          (Lepidoptera: Incurvariidae). U.S. Nat. Hist. Mus., 
          Bull. 255:1-170. Smiths. Contrib. Zool. 524:1-88.
Frack, D.C. 1982. A systematic study of prodoxine moths (Adelidae: 
          Prodoxinae) and their hosts (Agavaceae), with descriptions 
          of the subfamilies of Adelidae (s. lat.). M.S. thesis, 
          California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA.
Powell, J.A. and R.A. Mackie. 1966. Biological interrelationships of 
          moths and Yucca whipplei. Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol. 42:1-59.

Lectotype in USNM.

About this page

Olle Pellmyr
E-mail: pellmyr@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.
Dept of Biology, Vanderbilt University, Box 1812-B Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Title illustrations: Male and female, southern form ("pulverulentus"), San Diego Co., California.
Female, northern form ("marginatus"), Riverside Co., California.