Volume 7 11 July 2006 Issue 2 TORTS Newsletter of the Troop of Reputed Tortricid Systematists ANNUAL MEETING OF Tree of Life Project (led by Charles Mitter and Cyndy Parr) and the DNA-barcode Project (led LEPIDOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY by Paul Hebert). AT McGUIRE CENTER Numerous “members” of TORTS were present, including Joaquin Baixeras, John The annual meeting of the Lepidopterists’ Brown, Richard Brown, Soowon Cho, Jason Society was held 15-18 June 2006, at the new Dombroskie, Todd Gilligan, Bernard Landry, McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Bio- Jean-François Landry, William Miller, Dan diversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, Rubinoff, Felix Sperling, Shen-Horn Yen, and University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, possibly others I did not recognize. USA. The meeting was co-hosted by the The international flavor of the meeting was Lepidopterists’ Society, the Southern Lepid- stimulating and likely will provide an incentive opterists’ Society, and the Association for for many North American lepidopterists to Tropical Lepidoptera. It was attended by over consider attending the SEL meeting in Berlin in 150 lepidopterists from the U.S., Canada, 2007. Mexico, several South American countries, _____________________________________ several European countries (e.g., Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany), and a couple PASSING OF I. F. B. COMMON Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan). The meeting provided many of us with our first glimpse of The following correspondence was received the McGuire Center, touted to be the future by many from CSIRO: center for Lepidoptera research in North America. “Dear Colleagues, The meeting program included contributed It is with great sadness that we have to let papers, posters, symposium, and workshops. you know that Dr Ian Common died in his sleep There were 16 student presentations, reflecting early this morning (3 June), just a few days the continued increase in the level of student before his 89th birthday. He had been participation at the meetings. Among the professionally active until recently, going on informal workshops was a gathering of regular collecting trips with his wife Jill. noctuoid specialists, lead by Don Lafontaine Ian was one of the most outstanding and Michael Fibiger, who discussed homologies lepidopterists of our time, not only single- among genital structures across the superfamily. handedly laying the foundation for our There also were workshops on the Lepidoptera understanding of the vast and diverse Australian 1 Volume 6 11 July 2006 Issue 2 fauna but producing seminal studies of world- Unlike many of us, Ian managed to put on wide relevance each time he monographed a paper a remarkable proportion of his knowledge group. His early research made major contrib- in scholarly research publications and of his utions towards resolving the taxonomy of many rich field experience in books, much of it important Lepidoptera pests in Australia. His written after retirement. 1954 paper on the biology of the bogong moth Although Ian achieved international fame is a classic study on insect migration, for his work on the higher classification and his elucidating an iconic Australian phenomenon. revisionary studies, in addition to all this he Some of Ian’s most remarkable contributions build up the outstanding Lepidoptera holdings include the study of the primitive family Lopho- in the ANIC. The collection with its extremely coronidae, and the families Anthelidae and high standard of preservation and curatorial Carthaeidae. However, his primary research practice is a testimony to Ian’s dedication and contributions were concerned with the Tort- industry. ricinae and Oecophorinae. Based on revisions Together with colleagues, in particular of Australian groups, Ian made very significant Murray Upton and Ted Edwards, he undertook contributions to tortricine systematics and a large number of major field expeditions and phylogeny relevant well beyond Australia. His has continued his tireless efforts in collecting single most outstanding achievement is the after his retirement until shortly before his complete overview of the genera of the Austral- death. The arrival at the ANIC of moths ian Oecophorinae, with some 5000 species in collected by Ian always had the feel of opening 250 genera the largest family group of Christmas parcels. Australian Lepidoptera. This three-volume Ian’s status as one of the foremost work gives access to one of the largest Austral- lepidoperists was acknowledged with numerous ian radiations. Ian’s broad and scholarly know- honours. He won the Royal Zoological Society ledge of Lepidoptera systematics was of New South Wales’ Whitley Medal in 1991 summarised in the chapters in The Insects of for ‘Moths of Australia’ for the ‘best book on Australia and his 1975 review of the evolution the natural history of Australian animals’. In and classification of the Lepidoptera, texts 1996 he was awarded the Karl Jordan Medal by which have inspired lepidopterists around the the Lepidopterists’ Society, and in 2001 he was world. made an Officer of the Order of Australia. Ian has always shared his vast knowledge Ian will be missed not only as an most generously with colleagues as well as with exceptional scientist but also as a wonderful serious amateur naturalists. From the two small colleague and friend. Anybody who has worked Jacaranda pocket guides on Australian moths with him will remember his quiet but wicked and butterflies to the comprehensive volumes sense of humour, and in his close collaborators Butterflies of Australia and Moths of Australia, this generous, thoughtful scholar inspired the he produced extensive contributions which loyalty of a family. His wife Jill’s unstinting served as textbooks for systematists and as support throughout his career was a major ‘bibles’ for enthusiasts. Both volumes reflect factor in making all his achievements possible.” Ian’s unrivalled knowledge of Australian moth biology. Marianne Horak & Ted Edwards - CSIRO 2 Volume 6 11 July 2006 Issue 2 INITIATIVE FOR material is dispersed. In situations where only a DEVELOPING single specimen is available in the collection, extract aliquots may be distributed rather than A COLLECTION FOR the specimen itself. We will work with MOLECULAR ANALYSES individuals to try to distribute fairly material under these circumstances. Through my involvement in the Lepidoptera For information on this initiative, check out Tree-of-Life project, it has become clear that the new website being developed by Todd there is precious little material of Tortricidae Gilligan - http://www.tortricidna.org. If you available for molecular analyses (i.e., frozen have questions, suggestions, recommendations, tissue samples), and there is no major or other comments, please feel free to contact depository where frozen specimens can be John Brown ([email protected]) or deposited and/or borrowed by researchers Todd Gilligan ([email protected]). worldwide. It also has become clear that _____________________________________ molecular analyses are going to be critical for elucidating relationships among the higher level TORTRICID CATALOG categories (i.e., subfamilies and tribes) within TO BE CONVERTED INTO Tortricidae. Hence, development of a collection of frozen specimens is long overdue. Just as our DATABASE FORMAT predecessors accumulated material in the collections we use today, we are obligated to Joaquin Baixeras, our colleague at the gather specimens for those that follow us. University of Valencia, Spain, has been hard at In association with the Tree-of-Life project, work converting the tortricid catalog into a a small collection of mostly North American database format. The short-term goals are to Tortricidae (about 50 species representing all assemble a comprehensive database of all the North American tribes) has been assembled at names used in Tortricidae, correction con- the University of Maryland, and we propose spicuous mistakes in the hard copy of the that this collection function as the nucleus for a catalog, continue to add new taxa as they are larger, worldwide collection of specimens published, and continue to update the database suitable for molecular studies. It is our hope that as new combinations and other taxonomic this larger collection will be assembled by and changes are proposed. You can help facilitate utilized by collaborators throughout the world. this effort by sending corrections and reprints of Hence, we are soliciting your input regarding new papers to John Brown ([email protected]. your interest in the project, along with usda.gov). comments on its feasibility. The long-term goals are to make the Optimally, multiple specimens of each database available via the web and to add fields species should be available in case different for geographic distribution of all species, food researchers request the same species for plants (along with references), and references different projects. However, for some tribes to illustrations of the adults and genitalia. and/or genera that are rare or difficult to obtain, Joaquin promises to keep us posted as we will have to be particular about how the progress is made. 3 Volume 6 11 July 2006 Issue 2 TORTRICID BIBLIOGRAPHY Population structure and growth acclimation FOR 2005 of mountain maple along a successional gradient in the southern boreal forest. Ecoscience 12: 540-548. [Choristoneura Addison, M. F. 2005. Suppression of codling fumiferana] moth Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Bae, Y.-S. 2005. Systematic study of the genus Tortricidae) populations in