International Network of Gelechioid Aficionados
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Issue 1 3 December 2012 I.N. G.A. Newsletter of the International Network of Gelechioid Aficionados elcome to I.N.G.A., the “International We would like to make the following requests to W Network of Gelechioidea Aficionados.” others involved with research on Gelechioidea: 1) We plan to make this newsletter an open forum please send a short paragraph/article describing for exchanging information among all individuals your current or planned research along with any who are interested in gelechioids, regardless of requests you may have for research material, and whether subscribers are involved in research on 2) please send a list of your publications during this superfamily, involved in museum curation, or 2011-2012 if missing from the list of this someone working independently to study this newsletter with full citations for inclusion in our diverse superfamily. next newsletter. We welcome photographs of you or your taxon. Ideally, we would like to compile This newsletter has the goals of 1) providing any nomenclatorial changes that occur annually, updates on gelechioid research, and and submission of such changes by individual nomenclatorial changes, 2) providing a forum for researchers would be welcome. exchange of information among those interested in this superfamily of moths, 3) providing an We will distribute this newsletter twice each year. annual bibliography of references relating to Please submit information on current research, gelechioid systematics, with reviews of selected publications and other news to one of the co- monographs, and, 4) providing an outlet for editors: Maria Heikkilä and Mari Kekkonen in soliciting assistance from other systematists and Finland and Sangmi Lee and Richard Brown in curators throughout the world for acquiring the U.S.A. (for contact information, please see the material to conduct research. last page). Thanks to Robert Hoare for proposing the acronym I.N.G.A., based on a genus of We would like to increase our initial mailing list Oecophoridae, for the title of this newsletter. We to include more individuals who have interests in are also grateful to Scott Justis for allowing us to Gelechioidea and who may be interested in use his photograph as a logo picture and Robert receiving this newsletter. As all requested contri- Hoare, Lauri Kaila and Jean-François Landry for butions are totally voluntary-based, anyone recei- providing comments on the newsletter. ving this newsletter will not be obligated for any submission. Please inform us if you do not want to Richard L. Brown, Maria Heikkilä, receive future copies of this newsletter or if you Mari Kekkonen & Sangmi Lee can suggest others who might want to receive this. I.N.G.A. 1 - 2012 1 Gelechioid Aficionados Robert Hoare improving knowledge of the New Zealand fauna, and not to attempt to become an expert on any one am the Head Curator and Lepidoptera family worldwide! I Systematist at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research, Auckland, New Lauri Kaila Zealand. Originally from England, I started my entomological career studying Nepticulidae for my work as a Senior Curator in The Finnish Museum of Natural History. I am interested in PhD in Australia, and maintain an interest in this I all aspects of Lepidoptera systematics, but it seems and other families of leaf-mining moths, although that fate has directed me to focus on the there are relatively few leaf-mining Lepidoptera in Gelechioidea in particular. Perhaps that has New Zealand. something to do with the fact that my ‘serious’ Since arriving in New Zealand, I have specialised taxonomic work started in a young and sensitive on a lineage of Xyloryctidae, the Hierodoris group age with Elachistidae (or Elachistinae of an of genera, that is so far largely known from New expanded Elachistidae) where my species-level Zealand, though several Australian taxa are known, taxonomic interest and expertise still, almost and there are probably New Caledonian members entirely, resides. Regarding this group, my interest too. (This group of genera has traditionally been is world-wide, not restricted to any particular assigned to Oecophoridae, and I've retained this geographic area, thanks to the almost-manageable placement tentatively until now, while it appears number of species in total. My other long-time on all the phylogenetic evidence to be increasingly topic of interest has been the pursuit of obtaining untenable!) understanding of the phylogeny of the Gelechioidea, using both morphology and mole- Various circumstances have led me to abandon cules as a tool, and a family classification that Gelechioidea temporarily for Noctuoidea, but I would be phylogeny-based. hope to be back soon. The New Zealand Lepidoptera fauna is so compact (perhaps little In phylogeny, I am almost omnivorous within more than 2000 species) and in such an interesting Lepidoptera, but Gelechioidea and its subgroups state of taxonomic knowledge (mostly described, are my focal target. That is because I do believe but still with many interesting new discoveries to that gelechioids are the least understood of the be made in the field and in collections) that I retain largest lepidopteran superfamilies, and a data- an interest in all groups, though Geometridae scare based phylogeny and classification could make it me. I have decided, for better or worse, to focus on easier to approach. Having a comprehensive-real- data-based, phylogeny-based classification as a back-up one could focus better on some groups without the need of knowing everything about everything before anything could be done. This is the situation that has been prevailed for a large part of Gelechioidea, without doubt a reason why this this superfamily has been so difficult to approach. Robert Hoare and Lauri Kaila enjoying a break in New Zealand. Photo by Jaakko Kullberg I.N.G.A. 1 - 2012 2 Gelechioid Aficionados Jean-François Landry have worked for the past 30 years as research I systematist at Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, which is the custodian for the Canadian National Collection of Insects in Ottawa. I am also the Curator of Lepidoptera for the CNC. My initial involvment in Gelechoidea was serendipitous. As a young graduate student interested in insect ecology and systematics, I won through a competition a position to do research on Lepidoptera at the AAFC and the CNC: at the working for an agriculture department meant that time, being near completion of my masters degree, research had to have at least a minimal agricultural my new employment was conditional upon connection, namely to pests and the likes. Thus entering a doctoral program and gaining a PhD in Coleophoridae were added to my roster, another microleps systematics. Having worked previously family where the Nearctic fauna is poorly known. I on carabid beetles, I found myself crash-learning also digressed into some non-gelechioids [Acro- microleps. No really knowing what to study for my lepiidae (oops! now Acrolepiinae), Gracillariidae, PhD, I turned to lepidopterists at the Smithsonian Yponomeutidae, Pyralidae, etc.], thanks to eco- Institution for advice. The family Scythrididae was nomic imperatives. However, my primary interest suggested, as it was deemed then that the relatively resides with the Gelechioidea. My focal point is small Nearctic fauna would constitute a neat little species-level work, particularly in the Nearctic thesis project… How far from the truth this would turn out to be! However, I always liked a challenge fauna. I use morphology, biology, behaviour, and (perhaps I am a fool). So I plunged straight ahead genes in my studies, though DNA is a more recent into scythridids and gelechioids. development that stemmed from the barcode initiative. I admit that it was rather forbidding at first. Our institution has a national identification service, Externally scythridids are not exactly the most which means that we receive identification requ- attractive micromoths. However, I soon found that ests from across the country and from all kinds of their genitalia were absolutely amazing and bizarre people and organization. I am thus called to iden- (by Lepidoptera standards). I also liked that most tify all manners of microleps, even from abroad scythrids are best collected with a net at the height when intercepted in imported goods, often in less- of day in hot weather and that some have funny than-ideal condition. This, added to the inadequate habits such as running on sand dunes. And I found knowledge of our Canadian fauna, has contributed doing microdissections, which is an absolute to my focus at the species level. necessity and a starting point in the study of these micromoths, to be a lot of fun: it is like opening Gelechioidea can be arguably considered the last presents, one never quite knows what to expect. I frontier in Lepidoptera. Not only are they mega- was fascinated and hooked. speciose but they also encompass all manners of life styles, from the classics such as leaf miners, Eventually I branched into other gelechioids, leaf rollers, webbers, and borers, to more exotic especially Nearctic Coleophoridae. Although stick- habits like detritivores, fungivores, carnivores, ing to Scythrididae would be plenty to fill a career, I.N.G.A. 1 - 2012 3 Gelechioid Aficionados Jean-François Landry continues parasitoids, even aquatic predators of snails. They Several years ago at one of the lepidopterists range in size from the minute to the very large. meetings, I presented a talk on the undescribed Yet, due to the the small size and cryptic habits of diversity of Coleophoridae in North America. At the majority, they remain daunting subjects of the end of the closing banquet took place the study. Their phylogeny and classification has and traditional door prize draw with all manners of still remains a challenge. Some groups have under- donated prizes, from Lepidoptera books to gone huge species radiations in particular regions.