Mesepiola

Mesepiola specca Davis

N.B.: Additional Mesepiola species are known, and will appear here after description in a formal revision.

Adult Characteristics

Wing expanse 8-12 mm. Sexes similar, with relatively narrow forewings with a mosaic of white, fuscous and rusty scales; hindwings a uniform brown. Abdominal underside nearly white. Females have a unique hooked appendage on the seventh tergite, used to anchor the abdomen against a floral calyx when cutting into the ovary.

Dorsal appendage on seventh tergite of female; descending portion is abdominal tip including short ovipositor.

Comparison with similar species

This small species is the only known prodoxid found on members of the Nolinaceae. It can superficially resemble darker individuals of Prodoxus marginatus, but the latter never has any rusty scales. Females cannot be mistaken, given the unique uncinate appendage.

Host and larval feeding habits

Hosts include several species of Nolina and Dasylirion (Nolinaceae). Adults are primarily crepuscular, and can be found swarming around host inflorescences where they drink nectar, mate, and oviposit. The female oviposits into floral ovaries, and the larva completes development inside one or more seeds. The fully grown larvae burrow into the soil, where they pupate.

Female ovipositing into a Nolina ovary.

Geographic Distribution

Mesepiola specca is so far reported from the southern portions of California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Habitat

In desert and chaparral habitats with Nolina or Dasylirion.

Dasylirion (center) in suitable stage for oviposition; Santa Cruz Co., Arizona.

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.
Nielsen, E.S. & D.R. Davis. 1985.  The first southern hemisphere 
          prodoxid and the phylogeny of the Incurvarioidea (Lepidoptera). 
          Syst. Entom. 10:307-322.
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.

Holotype 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 from Riverside Co., California.