Banisteria, Number 38, pages 3-37 © 2011 Virginia Natural History Society A Preliminary List of the Leaf-roller Moths (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) of Virginia Winnie H.Y. Lam Department of Biological Sciences CW 405 Biological Sciences Building University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9 (email:
[email protected]) Jadranka Rota1 Department of Entomology National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA John W. Brown2 Systematic Entomology Laboratory U.S. Department of Agriculture, A.R.S. National Museum of Natural History P.O. Box 37012, MRC 168 Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA (email:
[email protected]) ABSTRACT The microlepidopteran fauna of Virginia is poorly documented. We present an annotated checklist of 301 species of leaf-roller moths (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) recorded from the state based on the examination of 4,207 pinned specimens deposited in institutional or university collections; the specimen database from the Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley (122 specimen records); and literature records. County distribution, capture dates, and host plants are presented for each species. The geographic coverage of the material examined is highly uneven, with most specimens (60%) from Fairfax County (200 species). The poor state of knowledge of the Virginia tortricid fauna is demonstrated by the lack of records for nearly one-fifth of all counties and large independent cities. Much more collecting by both amateur and professional lepidopterists, as well as a review of additional existing collections, is needed before a general understanding of the geographic and temporal distribution of Virginia’s tortricid fauna will begin to emerge.