Crocidosema Explained

See also: Glossary of entomology terms.

Crocidosema is a genus of tortrix moths (family Tortricidae) belonging to the tribe Eucosmini of subfamily Olethreutinae. They are found mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, being especially common in the Neotropics. But some occur elsewhere, such as on the Hawaiian Islands.^[1]

At least some of them can be recognized by their wing veins. In the hindwings, vein 3 and 4 originate from a common stalk, and are approached by the fifth vein at its end. In the forewings, veins 4-6 converge at the termen.^[2]

These moths are mostly small and inconspicuous. But C. plebejana is an occasional pest of cotton (and some other mostly malvaceous plants) and has become widely distributed by trade in agricultural produce, while the lantana flower-cluster moth (C. lantana) is employed in Lantana biocontrol and has been deliberately introduced to some locations.

Species

As of 2010, the 29 described species of Crocidosema are:^[3]

• Crocidosema accessa (Heinrich, 1931)
• Crocidosema apicinota (Turner, 1946)
• Crocidosema aporema (Walsingham, 1914)
• Crocidosema callida Meyrick, 1917
• Crocidosema calvifrons (Walsingham, 1891)
• Crocidosema cecidogena (Kieffer, 1908)
• Crocidosema compsoptila Meyrick, 1936
• Crocidosema cosmoptila Meyrick, 1917
• Crocidosema evidens (Meyrick, 1917)
• Crocidosema impendens Meyrick, 1917
• Crocidosema insulana Aurivillius, 1922
• Crocidosema lantana Busck, 1910  - lantana flower-cluster moth, lantana tortricid moth
• Crocidosema leprarum Walsingham in Sharp, 1907
• Crocidosema leptozona (Meyrick, 1921)
• Crocidosema longipalpana (Moschler, 1891)
• Crocidosema nitsugai Vargas, 2019 ^[4]
• Crocidosema marcidellum Walsingham in Sharp, 1907
• Crocidosema meridospila (Meyrick, 1922)
• Crocidosema orfilai Pastrana, 1964
• Crocidosema perplexana (Fernald, 1901)
• Crocidosema plebejana Zeller, 1847
• Crocidosema pollutana (Zeller, 1877)
• Crocidosema pristinana (Zeller, 1877)
• Crocidosema pyrrhulana (Zeller, 1877)
• Crocidosema roraria Meyrick, 1917
• Crocidosema sediliata (Meyrick, 1912)
• Crocidosema thematica (Meyrick, 1918)
• Crocidosema unica (Heinrich, 1923)
• Crocidosema venata Razowski & Wojtusiak, 2006
• Crocidosema veternana (Zeller, 1877)

(incomplete list)

References

• (2010a): Online World Catalogue of the Tortricidae  - Genus Crocidosema account. Version 2.0. Retrieved 2011-OCT-15.
• (2010b): Online World Catalogue of the Tortricidae  - Crocidosema species list. Version 2.0. Retrieved 2011-OCT-15.
• (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 416: 1-485. PDF fulltext (214 MB!)
• (2004): Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species  - Crocidosema. Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2011-OCT-15.

Notes and References

1. Baixeras et al. (2010ab)
2. Clarke (1986)
3. Baixeras et al. (2010b)
4. Vargas HA (2019) A new species of Crocidosema Zeller (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) from the Andes of northern Chile. Nota Lepidopterologica 42(2): 129-136. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.42.38341 https://nl.pensoft.net/article/38341/