Urodeta conocarpi Eiseman, 2025

Urodeta conocarpi Eiseman , spec. nov.

( Figs. 1–32 View FIGURES 1–6 View FIGURES 7–10 View FIGURES 11–14 View FIGURES 15–16 View FIGURES 17–18 View FIGURES 19–20 View FIGURES 22–23 View FIGURES 24–28 View FIGURES 29–32 )

Holotype. U.S.A.: FLORIDA: Monroe Co., Tavernier , 25.032475, -80.504067, 10.iv.2022, em. 25.iv.2022, D.J. Ringer, ex Conocarpus erectus , #CSE7453 ( 1♂; genitalia mounted on slide in Canada balsam). GoogleMaps

Paratypes. Same data as holotype ( 3♀, 1 with genitalia mounted on slide in Canada balsam); FLORIDA: Monroe Co., Big Pine Key, 24.687849, -81.356004, 31.xii.2020, em. 14.i.2021, T. Irvine, ex Conocarpus erectus , #CSE6747 ( 1♀; genitalia in lactic acid in micro vial) GoogleMaps .

Photographed mines. All of the photographic records listed below show leaf mines on Conocarpus erectus , and they can be viewed online by adding the “iNat” number to the end of this URL: https://www.inaturalist.org/ observations/.

THE BAHAMAS: San Salvador, 24.109008, -74.501614, 18.i.2022, M.Akresh, vacated mine (iNat 105742717) GoogleMaps ; U.S.A.: FLORIDA: Broward Co., Hollywood, 26.038504, -80.119258, 19.xii.2023, E. Schmidt, occupied mine (iNat 194709698); Lee Co. , Sanibel Island , J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge , 27.xii.2021, T. S. Feldman, occupied and vacated mines (iNat 281673404; Figs. 5–6 View FIGURES 1–6 ); 28.xii.2023, T. S. Feldman, occupied mine (iNat 195295075); Miami-Dade Co. , Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, 25.678692, -80.271928, 14.xii.2021, N. Frade, vacated mine (iNat 103071366); Monroe Co. , Big Pine Key, 24.709555, -81.386213, 6.v.2022, D.J. Ringer, vacated mine (iNat 115841136); Bahia Honda State Park Concession , 24.6545, -81.2812, 26.ii.2022, D.J. Ringer, vacated mines (iNat 107528555, 107528592) GoogleMaps ; Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area , 25.032473, -80.504013, 10.iv.2022, D.J. Ringer, vacated mines (iNat 111058126); Key Largo, 25.142361, -80.395226, 17.iv.2022, D.J. Ringer, vacated mine (iNat 111850457; Fig. 3 View FIGURES 1–6 ) GoogleMaps .

Host. The only known host plant is Conocarpus erectus L. ( Combretaceae ), commonly known as button mangrove or buttonwood. It grows along the immediate coastlines of peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys, often along the upland margins of mangrove swamps, tolerating salt, periodic inundation, limestone rock, and intense sun. In the Keys it is also frequently used in landscaping, e.g. in yards and parking lots.

Distribution. Specimens are known only from the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, USA. Leaf mines have been documented elsewhere in southern Florida (Broward, Lee, and Miami-Dade Counties) as well as in the Bahamas.

Etymology. The specific name is derived from the genus of the host plant, Conocarpus L.

Biology. The egg has not been observed, but based on the positions of the documented leaf mines, it is evident that it is deposited near the leaf margin, usually in the basal portion of the leaf. The larva forms a rapidly widening, upper-surface to full-depth “trumpet” mine that typically follows the leaf margin distally for some distance and is filled with frass except at the end ( Figs. 1–6 View FIGURES 1–6 ). When finished feeding, the larva exits through a crescent-shaped slit in the upper epidermis, and the naked pupa is attached to a leaf by the cremaster ( Figs. 7–10 View FIGURES 7–10 ). The adult emerges about nine days later. Larvae have been found from late December to early January and in early April, with adults emerging in mid-January and late April.

Adult description. ( Figs. 11–18 View FIGURES 11–14 View FIGURES 15–16 View FIGURES 17–18 ) Forewing length 3.1 mm ( ♂); 3.2–3.4 mm ( ♀).

Head: Vertex and back of head creamy white with appressed scales, most of the scales with dark brown tips; face white with few to many dark-tipped scales. Labial palpi straight, mostly white, length ~0.5× the width of the head. Antenna ~0.8× the length of the forewing; scape creamy white with dark brown-tipped scales; flagellum missing in holotype male; in paratype females, the first several flagellomeres mostly creamy white, and the remainder graybrown, appearing annulate at some angles of light.

Thorax: Dorsum creamy white, most of the scales with dark brown to blackish tips. Forewing widening to 1 mm just beyond middle, then tapering to a rounded apex; scales creamy white with dark brown tips, giving the wing a speckled appearance; at about the middle of the dorsal margin, a dark spot composed of larger scales with longer dark tips, the teeth of these scales black; other clusters of more pronounced dark scale tips forming a broken, oblique fascia that involves the dorsal spot, a median spot, and a costal spot at ~¼; a small, dark median spot may also be present at ¼; a small, dark, subdorsal spot may be present at ~2/3, forming an equilateral triangle with two additional spots flanking this one just dorsad of the middle of the wing, or some or all of these spots may be obscure. Hindwing 0.3 mm wide at base, evenly tapering to an acute apex, uniformly gray or golden brown depending on angle of light. Legs creamy white, variably mottled with blackish, the middle and hind tibiae densely clothed in long, mostly white, filiform scales; foreleg heavily mottled to almost entirely black, the tarsus with distinct white spots; middle tarsus with bold blackish bands; hind tarsus with fainter blackish bands.

Abdomen: ( Figs. 19–32 View FIGURES 19–20 View FIGURES 22–23 View FIGURES 24–28 View FIGURES 29–32 ) Dorsum shining silvery-gray; tergum 2 with a shallowly rounded protrusion on the anterior margin ( Fig. 19 View FIGURES 19–20 ). Male genitalia ( Figs. 20–28 View FIGURES 19–20 View FIGURES 22–23 View FIGURES 24–28 ): Uncus length somewhat greater than the width of the spinose knob of the gnathos; spinose knob of the gnathos ~spherical, ~0.4× the width of the tegumen, oriented ventrally ( Figs. 24, 26 View FIGURES 24–28 ); valva ( Figs. 22 View FIGURES 22–23 , 27 View FIGURES 24–28 ) short and broad, a groove parallel with its ventral margin extending along the anterior ~2/3 of the sacculus; ventral margin of the sacculus convex, the posterior margin forming part of a symmetrically concave sinus that separates the sacculus from the cucullus; cucullus ~3× as long as wide, directed posteriorly, with a small, inwardly and dorsally curved point at apex ( Figs. 24, 26 View FIGURES 24–28 ); juxta apically bilobed, with a somewhat crescent-shaped sclerotization articulating with the middle ~1/3 of the phallus, this crescent dorsally convex and ventrally undulate ( Figs. 22, 23 View FIGURES 22–23 , 25, 28 View FIGURES 24–28 ); vinculum narrow and U-shaped (Fig. 21); phallus ( Figs. 22, 23 View FIGURES 22–23 , 25, 28 View FIGURES 24–28 ) equal in length to the valva, rounded at anterior end, broadest at about 1/3 from this end, then tapering and curving ventrally, with a blunt, spinelike ventral sclerotization at apex; vesica without cornuti; abdominal segments 7 and 8 without modifications. Female genitalia ( Figs. 29–32 View FIGURES 29–32 ): Papillae anales ( Figs. 29, 30 View FIGURES 29–32 ) broadest at base, evenly tapering to apex, with long, fine setae; apophyses posteriores and anteriores absent; no distinct features observed in segments 7 and 8; ductus bursae loosely spiraling; corpus bursae ( Figs. 31, 32 View FIGURES 29–32 ) elliptical, lacking discrete signa, but with a band of scattered, minute spines in its middle third (these not clearly visible in the female dissected and imaged by CSE, due to the highly wrinkled corpus bursae).

Diagnosis. The anteriorly directed spines of the gnathos in the male genitalia identify this species as belonging to the genus Urodeta and distinguish it from all other Elachistinae known to occur in the Americas, with the exception of the Central American U. inerme (see Sruoga 2024). That species is smaller (wingspan 4.2–5.0 mm vs. ~ 7 mm), with the male genitalia having a much narrower cucullus (~10× as long as wide, vs. ~3× in U. conocarpi ) that forms a sharp angle with the sacculus (vs. a rounded sinus in U. conocarpi ); the female genitalia differ in possessing discrete signa and apophyses anteriores (both lacking in U. conocarpi ). In Sruoga’s (2024) key to world Urodeta spp. , the female of U. conocarpi keys to the undescribed Australian leafminer of Terminalia sp. (see Kaila 2011), and the male runs to the couplet that distinguishes that species from U. inerme . The male genitalia of the Australian species differ from U. conocarpi in having the costa wrinkled, and the female genitalia differ in having a well-defined antrum and a corpus bursae that is globular rather than elliptical; that species is known only from genitalia slides ( Kaila 2011), so its external features cannot be compared. Sruoga ( in litt. to CSE, 15 March 2025) noted that the male genitalia of U. conocarpi are also similar to those of the African U. taeniata (Mey) , and that the placement of the latter species in his key ( Sruoga 2024) is based on his possibly incorrect interpretation of “phallus with one apically protruding spine” ( Mey 2007) as a cornutus rather than as a pointed apex of the phallus. U. taeniata is smaller than U. conocarpi (forewing length 2.0– 2.5 mm vs. 3.1–3.4 mm), and based on the drawings in Mey (2007), it appears to have a shallower curve between the cucullus and sacculus in the male genitalia, with much longer setae on the cucullus; the phallus is narrower and is widest near the anterior end (not at ~1/3); and the median elliptical area enclosed by the sclerotized anterior margin of abdominal tergum 2 is more pronounced, approaching semicircular.

DNA barcoding. A 556 bp sequence was obtained (GenBank accession #: PV819995), and the closest matches in the BOLD library were to two specimens of the Palearctic butterfly Phengaris teleius (Bergsträsser) ( Lycaenidae ), at 89.16% and 89.1%. The next closest matches, all at>88.2%, were specimens of the likewise Palearctic species P. arion (Linnaeus) , an Australian Cosmopterix sp. ( Cosmopterigidae ), an Australian Nola sp. ( Nolidae ), a Neotropical Splendeuptychia sp. ( Nymphalidae ), Nearctic Elachista spp. ( Elachistidae ), an African Elachistidae sp., and another specimen of P. teleius . Kaila and Sruoga have investigated DNA barcodes of three Urodeta spp. and found that all differ from one another by>10%, with the closest matches in the BOLD library constituting a similarly odd assortment of Lepidoptera , one of them being a pierid butterfly (L. Kaila in litt. to CSE, 7 March 2025).

Comments. This is the second Urodeta species to be reared from leaf mines on Combretaceae , after the unnamed Australian species on Terminalia L.; no further information about the biology of that species is available ( Kaila 2011). The only other species that has been reared is the Mediterranean U. hibernella , which mines leaves of Cistus L. ( Cistaceae ). It pupates in the same manner as U. conocarpi and likewise forms full-depth blotch mines with the frass concentrated in the earlier portion, but in contrast with U. conocarpi , the mine is said not to have an initial narrow portion and the larva frequently exits to start a new mine on a fresh leaf ( Hering 1957; Ellis 2025). It is probable that U. conocarpi has the ability to establish new mines, as is the case with most gelechioid leafminers ( Eiseman 2021), but it typically has no reason to do so due to the much larger leaves of its host plant.

We have found two other types of leaf mines on Conocarpus erectus in Florida ( Eiseman 2025). One is so far known only from a few old, empty mines found at “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in December 2018. As with U. conocarpi , the egg is laid near the leaf margin, and the larva typically follows this before exiting through a crescent-shaped to semicircular slit at the end of the mine prior to pupating, but unlike the mines from which we have reared U. conocarpi , these mines begin with an extended, narrow linear portion (rather than rapidly expanding into a trumpet shape), and in the funnel-shaped later portion, the frass is distributed in large clumps rather than a continuous mass. Eiseman (2025) indicated that these mines are made by a nepticulid moth, but it seems possible that they are merely aberrant mines of U. conocarpi . We have also reared an apparently undescribed Coptodisca sp. ( Heliozelidae ) from Conocarpus erectus in Broward and Manatee Counties. Its mines are likewise distinctly linear at the beginning, but they differ in beginning on the lower surface before becoming full-depth, are variable in placement (sometimes beginning near the midrib), and end with an elliptical hole resulting from the larva cutting pieces from both leaf epidermises to construct its pupal case.