Cats on Nightshade

Moved

Moved from Gelechiinae.
For what it's worth, the eggplant leafroller (Lineodes integra) is the only North American crambid listed by the HOSTS database as feeding on Physalis.

… Charley Eiseman, 16 February, 2011 - 11:07pm

Moved

Moved from Twirler Moths. Well, all our suspects belong to Gelechiinae. Aristotelia is in Gelechiini and the rest are in Gnorimoschemini. In looking this up, I discovered that Tildenia georgei is now Keiferia georgei. There are online references to that species making irregular blotch mines, but I don't know if it folds the leaves. It seems to be specific to Physalis heterophylla.

… Charley Eiseman, 2 December, 2009 - 8:07am

Moved

Moved from ID Request. Seems like we're safe calling this a gelechiid of some sort.

… Charley Eiseman, 2 December, 2009 - 8:00am

Mining?

Did you see any evidence of the leaves being mined before they were folded? That appears to be the case from what I can see in this image. If so, maybe Aristotelia physaliella. I agree with Chuck that the flower looks like Physalis.

… Charley Eiseman, 27 November, 2009 - 3:46pm

Not a miner

I think you are on the right track. There is no evidence that the larva in these photos is a leaf miner, even in its early stages; rather, it is a folder/skeletonizer. You are right in saying that it could be one of the folder/skeletonizer gelechiids such as Aristotelia, except that (in my experience, at least) larvae of Aristotelia never occur communally as seen here. Also, the larvae in photo 3354982 are too big (relative to the size of the leaf) for most gelechiid spp.; furthermore, the larvae have a shiny "wet" look, which leaf-folding gelechiid larvae do not have. Given all of the above, I believe that the moth represented by the larvae in these photos is a pyraustine crambid. Its larva could be something specific to Physalis sp., or it could be a super-generalist such as Udea rubigalis, which makes exactly this kind of folder/skeletonizer damage on all sorts of plant spp. It will be very interesting to see what this moth turns out to be, once it is reared to adult.

… Terry Harrison, 16 February, 2011 - 8:34pm

I've added a picture of another leaf. Do you know where I can find a picture of that moth? I have images from that same day of moths that were congregated on a milkweed plant in the same field that look like they could be from that genus. I did a brief search on line and didn't see it.

… Gacko, 27 November, 2009 - 4:30pm

Sorry, I don't.

Have you submitted any images of the adults?
I checked the HOSTS database, and the only Nearctic Physalis-feeding species that belong to a family with leafrolling members are gelechiids, except for the eggplant leafroller (Crambidae: Lineodes integra), which I don't think would mine the leaves first. The other gelechiids are the potato tuberworm

and three that I know nothing about: Symmetrischema kendallorum, S. lavernella, and Tildenia georgei.

… Charley Eiseman, 1 December, 2009 - 2:47pm

I submitted an image of the moths

I found on the milkweed (#355871). It was taken three days later, but they do look similar to the Potato Worm Moth. The leaves do look blistered and mined and I found one reference that said the Potato Worm webbed leaves together. That being said,I guess we can only say that they were in the same field at about the same time! Looking forward to your book in March!

… Gacko, 2 December, 2009 - 1:45am

Moths on milkweed

The moths that you photographed on milkweed (BG photo #355871) are scythridine xylorictids.

… Terry Harrison, 16 February, 2011 - 8:08pm