Species Thyridopyralis gallaerandialis - Hodges#5628

5628

Thyridopyralis gallaerandialis Dyar, 1901 (1)

thyrido (window) + pyralis (genus of pyralid moth[?])

See original description in the print references below.

The larvae are gall makers in the old stems of Randia aculeata. They must feed mainly upon the sap, as they consume hardly more of the interior of the gall than will suffice to give space for their bodies. (1)

The gall is a thick swelling in the hard wood about twice the thickness of the normal stem; fusiform with normal bark and no visible opening. There is, however, a tiny apical opening from which the larva ejects the frass and at once closes with silk. The interior of the gall is a tube of the diameter of the larva, about 25 mm. long, moist, without frass, only a little pulverized pithy wood in the bottom. The galls occur in pairs, adjoining. At maturing the larva eats a hole large enough for the exit of the moth and closes it with web. Pupation within, the pupa practically filling the cavity. Old galls remain on the tree and do not kill the branch. (1)

Type locality: USA, Florida, Key West

Dyar, H. G. 1901: Descriptions of some pyralid larvae from southern Florida. – Journal of the New York Entomological Society 9: 23. (1)

Moth Photographers Group (MPG) – images of pinned adults (2)

BOLD Systems - images of pinned DNA supported specimens (3)