Pellmyr, Olle. Happy National Moth Week, July 18-26, 2020! One species endemic to Mexico, Y. queretaroensis, is listed under CITES Appendix II, which restricts international trade in this rare, endangered plant. Finally the yucca-moth mutualism (living together in such a way as to increase each other’s reproductive success) is vulnerable to exploitation by cheaters: other moth species lay eggs within fertilized flowers but do not pollinate the flower. Range. Yucca Wild Buckwheat Eriogonum plumatella Eriogonum plumatella + Added; 6 Banana Yucca Yucca baccata var. Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths (family Prodoxidae); the insect transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigmaof another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, always leaving enough seed to perpetuate the species. The eggs of all prodoxids are laid inside plant tissues where the larvae feed in stems, twigs, buds, seeds, or vegetative parts of developing fruits (5). The yucca moths have a unique biology and are well-noted for their ancient relationships with Yucca ranging from obligate mutualism to commensalism to antagonism. The Yucca Moth is typically 0.4 inches to 0.5 inches (12mm to 13mm) in size and has the following descriptors / identifiers: white, black, gray, white, speckled, spotted, dots, flying, garden pest . The narrative follows that when a gravid female yucca moth is ready to lay eggs, she visits a yucca flower to collect pollen with specialized maxillary palp mouthparts called tentacles. Recently the species traditionally called T. yuccasella has been identified as being a complex of at least 13 species, many of which have very distinctive biology. Among them are two non-pollinating species of 'cheater yucca moths'. Yuccas are perennial shrubs and trees currently placed by many authorities into the family Asparagaceae and subfamily Agavoideae (3). If everyone who uses this resource gives a small amount, we could cover our ongoing costs, develop new features, and upgrade the system. But greya moths lack the specialized behaviors and morphological structures characteristic of true pollinating yucca moths (15). Information on this Species is incomplete... Bumble Bee Species Accounts at Montana Entomology Collection, Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers, Native Wildflowers and Bees of Western Montana, Natural Heritage MapViewer (Statewide Database of Animal Observations), North American Dragonflies - Slater Museum of Natural History, USDA Grasshoppers: their biology, identification, and management, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Email Address. "Yucca moths" have a remarkable biology. An important plant for wildlife, it provides food and nesting for small mammals, birds, and reptiles. Each species seems to pollinate a different species of yucca, so these relationships are mostly exclusive. North American Moth Photographers Group at the Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University, 210044.00-0200.1. Species: spp. Yucca Moths (Tegeticula yuccasella) are small white moths with a wingspan of 18-27.5 mm. Greya subalba. Females use the tentacles of their maxillary palps to collect and compact the dense, sticky pollen from yucca flowers. Female yucca moth depositing eggs. Moth and yucca are dependent upon each other, both benefiting from a relationship known as obligate pollination/herbivory mutualism. Yuccas are actively pollinated by female moths in the genus Tegeticula that also lay eggs into the flowers. There are about 49 species in the genus Yucca covering a large area of the Americas throughout Mexico extending into Guatemala and northward through Baja California and into the southwestern United States and Great Plains to southern Alberta, Canada. The T. yuccasella complex is now composed of 10 newly described yucca pollinator species (altiplanella, baccatella, carnerosanella, cassandra, elatella, maderae, mojavella, rostratella, superficiella, and treculeanella) and two non-pollinating “cheater” species (intermedia and corruptrix) that oviposit directly into yucca fruit (10). They are most easily identified by their presence within Yuccaflowers. The genus Prodoxus are the non-pollinating “bogus yucca moths” that coexist on yuccas with the pollinating yucca moths, Tegeticula and Parategeticula. Yucca is also native to some of the islands of the Caribbean. Larval survival is dependent on the mutualistic relationship between the Soapweed and its pollinator Yucca Moth. Information on this Species is incomplete... Alberta Lepidopterists' Guild. Yuccas are noted for their evergreen rosettes of tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of whitish flowers. This variety of Yucca is among the most cold-hardy and landscape ready of the species. The Five-spotted Bogus Yucca Moth is known from only two sites in Canada, one of which was discovered in 2011. Several yucca species are protected in the states in which they occur. Yucca moths are members of the family Prodoxidae and the genus Tegeticula. When the growing larvae have finished feeding on seeds, they burrow exit holes through the tissues of the fruit, drop to the ground, and burrow into the soil to complete metamorphosis within a cocoon (7). Interactions of these organisms range from obligate mutualism to commensalism to outright antagonism. The moths use these tentacle to collect balls of pollen from yucca flowers. The yucca plant is dependent upon the yucca moth for its survival and perpetuation of yucca plants. We used nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers to examine genetic structure in a moth population where a cheater species is … Moth larvae feed on the developing seeds. It’s a particularly important one because neither the yucca or the moth can survive without the other. Contact … The moth family Prodoxidae is a primitive group, some of which were the first nocturnal moths. “A Sub-familial Classification for the Expanded Aspergalean Families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, and Xanthorraceae.”. Yucca moths are native to the Southwest, but their range has expanded north and east with yucca plants. Studies in coevolution demonstrate how increased genetic variance between two different organisms with strong interactions can result in increased fitness for both. Riley and two California-based assistants, Albert Koebele and D.W. Coquillett are most noted for pioneering the principles of biological pest control, but they also had avocational interests in the microlepidopterans, including yucca moths (2). It has a wingspan of 18 to 28 mm, and females are slightly larger than males. Biologists have only recently determined that almost every species of yucca has its own species of yucca moth; some yuccas have two moth species. The Yucca Moth is a relatively small, slender-winged brown moth with a whitish head. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the developing seeds within the fruit; fortunately, there are more seeds than the larvae can eat. 2. The young larvae bore into the young fruit of Y. schottii and Y. elephantipella forming galls that replace several seeds. Since greya moths are closely related to yucca moths they have become the subjects of numerous plant-insect coevolutionary studies. baccata Yucca baccata var. As a group, they are smallish and nondescript. I am studying whether the pollination mutualism or the seed-eating antagonism is the major driver in moth specialization. The pistil (female part) of each flower ends in a three-lobed stigma.In order for pollination to occur, masses of pollen must be forced down into this central stigmatic hole. “Yuccas, Yucca Moths, and Coevolution: A Review.”, Chase, M.W. The first recorded observation of yucca moths was made by physician and botanist, George Engelmann in St. Louis in 1872. Such a tight mutualism has risks for both partners. Over millions of years of coevolution, the yucca moth has come to depend exclusively on the yucca plant blossoms as a repository for eggs and on the seeds as a food source for its larvae, and the yucca plant has come to depend exclusively on the moth as an agent for pollination. She may lay more eggs in the flower’s ovary or yet fly to another flower, but before leaving, she marks the flower with a pheromone signaling to competitors that there are eggs already present for too many eggs will cause the yucca to abort the flower. Some species are accidental pollinators when carrying host plant pollen on their bodies. Alternative Title: Tegeticula. We need your help. Ecologically, yuccas are adapted to a wide range of habitats from rocky deserts, grassland prairies, mountains, light woodlands’ coastal sands, and semi-arid subtropical and semi-temperate zones (4). The moth larvae feed exclusively on developing yucca seeds. The yucca-yucca moth pollination mutualism is an excellent model in this context as there have been two origins of cheating from within the yucca moth lineage. Systematic revision of the yucca moths in the. Two of the three yucca moth genera in particular, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, have an obligate pollination mutualism with yuccas. © Copyright 2021, Sibley Nature Center. … Even though they belong to two different kingdoms in the universe of life on our planet, the yucca moth species known as "Tegeticula yuccasella" and the yucca plant species known, popularly, as the "soaptree yucca" and, scientifically, as the "Yucca elata" have forged an inseparable bond. Look for this PDF icon at the top of each page as you search and browse. The different closely related species, all of which are generally referred to as yucca moths, are difficult to distinguish without examination under a … Prodoxids are members of the superfamily Incurvarioidea. and Fay, M.F. This moth species is an obligate stem borer on the stalks of Soapweed. Some of them have larvae that feed on developing seeds. Top 3. The word "coevolution" speaks to organisms or systems that have interacted in ways that have influenced their evolution over time. Yucca moths (Tegeticula yuccasella) are actually a group of more than a dozen different species of small, rather nondescript whitish-gray bronze tinged moths. They co-evolved over millions of years, and maintain a mutual dependence. When the eggs are inserted, she deposits a little pollen from the previous yucca flower onto the second flower’s stigma and packing it tightly. Tegeticula is one of the two genera of true yucca moth pollinators of yuccas. One species, Parategeticula pollenifera, can be found in the pine-oak forests in southwestern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Veracruz, Mexico, and is known to coexist with a member of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex. The adults are small, diurnal, and have tiny spines covering their wings. The key component of yucca moth habitat is the occurrence of yucca plants. We depend on donations to keep Butterflies and Moths of North America online and freely available. There are about 12 genera known, five of which occur in western North America with over 50 species (6). Compa… Only true … Their bore holes are a common sight on trunks of such plants as the soaptree yucca. Usually, but not always, a species complex has a common ancestor. At the same time, Riley significantly contributed to the general knowledge of insect biology with studies of the 13 and 17- year cicadas, and the pollination of yuccas---a subject of special interest to Charles Darwin (1). Since 2003, researchers have discovered that what they thought was one moth is actually two distinct species, each specially adapted to pollinate one of two subtly different varieties of Joshua tree. More recent morphological, molecular, and biological data show that T. yuccasella is instead a large complex of species that differ greatly in their biology (8). The flowers attract butterflies. 1999. Information on this Species is incomplete... Yucca Moth. Of the 80 or so species found worldwide, about 30 are native to North America. Often, rigorous studies of minute morphological details, tests of reproductive isolation, DNA analysis, and molecular biology techniques will be used to draw the dividing lines between species (9). P. quinquepunctella (eastern form) (13), is larger, white, and can easily be mistaken for some members of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex (14). She scrapes pollen from the flower’s anthers, packing it into a ball carried beneath her head. You can download select species by searching or when you're on a Taxa page like Class, Order, and Family. It lays eggs on each pollinated ovary, and the hatched larvae eat some of the developing seeds. Pellmyr, Olle. 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