Elachista saccharella ( Busck, 1934 )

Elachista saccharella ( Busck, 1934) View in CoL

( Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 4 View FIGURES 2 – 4 , 45–50 View FIGURES 45 – 46 View FIGURES 47 – 50 )

Donacivola saccharella Busck, 1934: 169 View in CoL .

Dicranoctetes saccharella (Busck) View in CoL ; Hall 1983: 521; 1988: 144. Elachista saccharella (Busck) View in CoL ; Kaila 1999a: 169; 1999b: 93; White et al. 2007: 792.

Material examined: 2ɗ, 5Ψ, Ecuador, Tungurahua Province, 1 km E Banos, Rio Negro, mines 11.ii.2007, ex. p. 01–08.iii.2007, V. Sruoga leg. In VPU.

For external characters and genitalia refer to Kaila 1999b: 93; figs. 151, 152, 278, 279, 362 and White et al. 2007: 792; fig. 1a.

Distribution. Cuba ( Busck 1934), USA: Florida ( Hall 1983) and Louisiana ( White et al. 2007), and Ecuador ( new record). According to Heppner (2002) this species is likely to also occur in Mexico.

Remarks. Previously the only known host plant of Elachista saccharella was sugarcane ( Saccharum ) ( Busck 1934; White et al. 2007). We found larvae mining the leaves of unidentified Poaceae grasses (most probably of the genus Muhlenbergia ( Figs. 45, 46 View FIGURES 45 – 46 ) growing on a roadside at an altitude of about 1800 m ( Fig. 4 View FIGURES 2 – 4 ). The larva makes a full-depth, straight, linear mine, which extends towards the leaf tip, about 10–13 cm long. It pupates in a flimsy cocoon ( Figs. 47, 48 View FIGURES 47 – 50 ) on the underside of a leaf. The cocoon varies in density and orientation of silk filaments covering the pupa. The pupa is highly modified, with lateral ridges produced into short or long curved acute spines ( Figs. 49, 50 View FIGURES 47 – 50 ).