Homaledra Explained

Homaledra is a small genus of at least four species small moth of the family Pterolonchidae native to North and South America.

Taxonomy

It was included in the family Coleophoridae by Ron Hodges in 1983. Hodges then moved it to the subfamily Batrachedrinae of the Batrachedridae in 1999.^{[1] [2]} In 2014, a cladistic analysis performed by Heikkilä et al., made them deem it necessary to reclassify the genus in the family Pterolonchidae.^[3]

In 1997 Hodges moved the two South American species Pammeces citraula and P. crocoxysta to Homaledra.^[4]

Species

The following species are known:

• Homaledra citraula (Meyrick, 1922) - Peru
• Homaledra crocoxysta (Meyrick, 1922) - Brazil
• Homaledra heptathalama Busck, 1900 - Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.^[5]
• Homaledra sabalella (Chambers, 1880) - Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas,^[6] Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba.

Ecology

Homaledra heptathalama feeds in the folds on the undersides of the palm fronds, using silk bolstered with its frass to construct a small elongate chamber to which it adds, as it grows, successively larger, more or less rectangular, thick-walled, communicating rooms, usually building up to eight.^[7]

Uses

At least two species are pests of palms in Florida.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Batrachedridae Overview . Brown . Richard L. . 19 August 2015 . Gelechioidea - a Global Framework . . 12 December 2019.
2. Book: Hodges, Ronald W. . Ronald W. Hodges . The Gelechioidea . Kristensen . N.P. . 1999 . Handbuch der Zoologie/Handbook of Zoology Vol. 4, part 35. Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies Vol. 1. Evolution, Systematics and Biogeography . Berlin . Walter de Gruyter . 131–158 . 978-3-11-015704-8.
3. Heikkilä . Maria . Mutanen . Marko . species:Marko Mutanen . Kekkonen . Mari . Kaila . Lauri . Lauri Kaila . November 2014 . Morphology reinforces proposed molecular phylogenetic affinities: a revised classification for Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera) . Cladistics . 30 . 6 . 563–589 . 10.1111/cla.12064 . 17 December 2019. free .
4. Hodges . Ronald W. . Ronald W. Hodges . 1997 . A new agonoxenine moth damaging Araucaria araucana needles in Western Argentina and notes on the Neotropical Agonoxenine fauna (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Elachistidae) . Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington . 99 . 2 . 272 . 22 December 2019.
5. http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=1421 Moth Photographers Group
6. http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=1422 Moth Photographers Group
7. Web site: Homaledra heptathalama - Exclamation Moth - Hodges#1421 . Robin McLeod . Chuck Entz . Randy Hardy . 18 June 2014 . Bug Guide . . 22 December 2019.