The Puzzling Distribution of Platphalonidia aenigmana, New Species, from the Western U.S.A. and Colombia (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Cochylina)

John W. Brown, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, United States

Document Type Article

Copyright 2024, the authors. Open access

License: CC BY-NC 3.0

Abstract

Platphalonidia aenigmana Brown, new species (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is described and illustrated from Arizona, California, and Oregon, U.S.A. and Colombia, South America. The new species has been reared on numerous occasions from Garrya elliptica Dougl. ex Lindl. (Garryaceae) in northern California and Oregon, once on Arctostaphylos sp. (Ericaceae) in southern California, and once on Gomphrena globosa L. (Amaranthaceae) in Colombia. Various hypotheses are explored to explain the unusual disjunct geographic distribution of the species. In addition, Phalonidia bassii Razowski (Tortricidae) is transferred to Saphenista Walsingham, resulting in Saphenista bassii (Razowski, 1999), new combination.