Volume 8 10 January 2007 Issue 1 TORTS Newsletter of the Troop of Reputed Tortricid Systematists MODIFICATIONS TO TODD TORTS NEWSLETTER GILLIGAN’S WEBSITE - DISTRIBUTED AS PDF TORTRICID.NET Since 2005 the newsletter has been distributed primarily via e-mail as a PDF. The following message was received Several members still receive a hard-copy via from Todd Gilligan regarding his website - regular mail owing to problems receiving Tortricid.net. attachments. If you have been receiving a hard “Just a quick note to mention that I have copy and prefer to receive a PDF, please let me finished a complete redesign of my website! know. Alternatively, if you have been receiving The new site has been uploaded and should be a PDF and would prefer a hard copy, let me fully functional. You can still access it using know. Please check your e-mail address in this either of these URLs: http://www.tortricidae. issue for accuracy. If you have corrections, com or http://www.torticid.net. Some of the please provide them to me at jbrown@sel. new features include a complete redesign barc.usda.gov. including new graphics, menus, fonts, etc.; the _____________________________________ ability to search the photo database for any genus/species or wildcard text; the ability to BOOK REVIEW display a complete list of thumbnail photos from the database; and new type specimen The following book review will appear photos, including the complete type collection in the spring issue of the Proceedings of the at ANIC (finally!) Entomological Society of Washington. Let me know if you have any However, I am so eager to let everyone know comments/questions/changes you would like to about the book and to encourage everyone to see. Thank you for your time!” order a copy, that I am providing this sneak If you have not yet visited Todd’s preview here. updated website, please do so - I’m sure you Olethreutinae Moths of Australia, will be impressed. It is an outstanding example Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, of the type of information and images that can Volume 10, by Marianne Horak, with be made available globally on the web. Also on contributions by Furumi Komai. 528 pages, 984 the site is a review of our initiative to develop a black-and-white photographs; 7" x 10"; ISBN resource for molecular analyses. 0-643-09093-2. AU $160.00 (ca. $120.00 US) 1 Volume 8 January 2007 Issue 1 hardback. CSIRO Publishing. Publication date: geographic area much broader than Australia July 2006. alone. Each genus is described in detail, diagnosed and defined by synapomorphies, and For over two decades, Marianne Horak discussed in the context of biogeography and has been one of the world’s leading experts in phylogenetic relationships; in addition, all the tortricid systematics, with seminal contributions constituent species of the Australian fauna are to van der Geest and Evenhuis’ Tortricid Pests, listed. their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control The text of this monograph is presented (Horak 1991, Horak and Brown 1991), to in 8 major sections, not including the standard Neilsen, Edwards, and Rangsi’s Checklist of front material (i.e., abstract, introduction, Australian Lepidoptera (Horak et al. 1996), and materials and methods, and acknowledgments): to Kristensen’s Handbook of Zoology (Horak 1. Phylogeny of the Olethreutinae, 2. 1998). Her systematic work is thorough, her Morphology, 3. Biology, 4. Diversity and morphological investigations are meticulous, Distribution, 5. Australian Olethreutinae and her knowledge of the world fauna is Genera, 6. References, 7. Appendices, and 8. unparalleled. Her recently published monograph Index. on Australian Olethreutinae, the subject of this The first section, Phylogeny of the book review, is the crowning achievement in a Olethreutinae, presents a detailed list of 126 highly productive career focused primarily on morphological characters for 73 of the included Tortricidae. genera plus two outgroups, along with the Most of us tortricid systematists results of a cladistic analysis using WinClada. impatiently apply our craft to taxa and regions As Horak concludes, the results portrayed in the of various sizes, inevitably leaving a trail of consensus tree should be viewed as preliminary papers, each of which addresses a different and somewhat inconclusive since several species group, genus, country, or geographic widely accepted groupings based on region, but rarely fully treating an entire fauna synapomorphies are not recovered in the or larger taxon in a single tome. Horak has analysis. It is likely that additional characters shown the patience and perseverance to are required to more accurately identify complete a thorough taxonomic study of the relationships among the genera. Nonetheless, entire subfamily Olethreutinae for the entire the data matrix represents an important first continent of Australia. In this volume she step in the development of a phylogeny for the reviews the 90 olethreutine genera and 249 Australian and Oriental members of the described species (and provides comments on subfamily upon which a stable classification an additional 200 undescribed species) can begin to be built. occurring in Australia. Because much of the The Morphology section is thorough and fauna is derived from that of the Oriental rich in details. The 20 pages of wing venation Region, biogeographically and phylogenetically, provide an outstanding visual summary of the the treatment has significant impact on the variation in shape, venation, and male classification of the Olethreutinae of a secondary structures found in the Australian and 2 Volume 8 January 2007 Issue 1 Oriental Olethreutinae. The Biology section pages in the text lack the numbering system presents a brief overview of tortricid life used for other major sections - an extremely histories and larval food plants. And the trivial format oversight that does not detract Diversity and Distribution section likewise from the presentation. presents a brief analysis of different olethreutine Like other CSIRO publications, the tribes within Australia and comparisons with physical aspects of the book are very good - other well-documented faunas. strong binding, high quality paper, and no Section 5, Australian Olethreutinae wasted space. Fonts are highly legible, headings Genera, is the meat of the monograph, with are clear and well defined, and illustrations are over 400 pages of diagnoses, descriptions, and nicely organized, distributed throughout the text illustrations of the included taxa. For each tribe rather than clustered at the back or middle. there are “status remarks,” “evidence for This book is in a vein similar to monophyly,” “diagnosis,” “distribution,” Diakonoff’s (1973) classic South Asiatic “biology,” and “remarks.” The text in this Olethreutini, and it is destined to become the section reveals the depth of Horak’s knowledge new reference for all systematic work on of the fauna. Included are the kinds of details Olethreutinae of Indo-Australia and southern and factoids that experts accumulate over a Asia. But it has broader geographic implications career of working on a taxon but seldom find as well, because many of the treated genera are the right medium in which to convey them. Of distributed on various continents around the particular interest to me are the myriad host- globe: e.g., Megalota, with its Oriental-southern plant records based on Horak’s personal continental distribution; Crocidosema, with its experience, the card file at CSIRO (compiled nearly cosmopolitan distribution; and Spilonota, primarily by the late I. F. B. Common), and the with its Palaearctic-Oriental-Australian range. work of her colleagues in Australia and This book is undoubtedly one of the most elsewhere. In this section she describes 12 new significant and original contributions to tortricid genera and 16 new species along with systematics to appear in the last few decades, proposing 121 new combinations (41 for the and its impact likely will be felt by generations Australian fauna and 80 for non-Australian of tortricid systematists. Anyone working on species). For the tribe Grapholitini, Horak tortricid moths at the global level in any context enlisted the assistance of the highly regarded (e.g., biogeography, biodiversity, taxonomy, Japanese tortricid taxonomist Furumi Komai, host-plants, agriculture) absolutely will have to and the results are outstanding. consult this volume. The final three sections, References, Horak is to be congratulated for her Appendices (morphological character matrix tenacity in finishing this overwhelming project and host plants by tortricid genus), and Index, and creating a masterpiece in the process. She are thorough as one would expect in a has set the bar high for her fellow tortricid professional taxonomic treatment. While the taxonomists and Lepidoptera systematists in last two are listed in the Table of Contents as general. sections “7” and “8,” respectively, their title 3 Volume 8 January 2007 Issue 1 Literature Cited UPDATES TO THE WORLD CATALOGUE OF INSECTS, Diakonoff, A. 1973. The South Asiatic Olethreutini (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). VOLUME 5, TORTRICIDAE Zoologische Monographieen van het (LEPIDOPTERA) Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie 1. 699 pp. In an effort to stay up-to-date with Horak, M. 1991. 1.1 Morphology, pp. 1-22. In current taxonomic treatments in Tortricidae and van der Geest, L. P. S. & H. H. to continue to improve our developing Evenhuis, eds., Tortricid Pests, Their electronic catalog of the family, I provide a list Biology, Natural Enemies and Control. of new species, new combinations, and new Elsevier Science Publishers B. V., synonymies proposed prior to 2006, mostly in Amsterdam. 2005. A bibliography also is provided in ________. 1998. Tortricoidea, pp. 199-215. In support of the changes. If you are aware of Kristensen, N., ed., Lepidoptera, Moths other additions, taxonomic changes, and/or and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, corrections to the catalog, please bring them to Systematics, and Biogeography. my attention. Thanks much for your continued Handbook of Zoology 4 (35), support. Arthropoda: Insecta. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin & New York.