Landry, Bernard

Roque Albelo, Lázaro

Aquatic Commons

December 2003 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS 15
Galápagos Islands
Opuntia echios echios: Daphne, 2; Baltra, 2;
O. e. barringtonensis; Santa Fé, 2;
O. e. gigantea; Santa Cruz, 25;
O. e. zacana; Seymour, 25;
O. helleri; Genovesa, 22;
O. insularis; Isabela, 25;
O. galapageia galapageia; Bartolomé, 25; Santiago , 25;
O. g. macrocarpa; Pinzón, 25;
O. g. profusa; Rábida, 25;
O. megasperma megasperma; Floreana, 2; Gardner (by Floreana), 2;
O. m. mesophytica; San Cristóbal, 25;
O. m. orientalis; Española, 2;
Mainland Ecuador
O. melanosperma; Central Coast 26;
O. macbridei; South Coast, 30;
U.S.A.
O.dillenii; Puerto Rico, 5
Appendix 1.  Location, taxonomic designation, and sample
sizes for Opuntia used in allozymic analyses.
Robert A. Browne, Department of Biology, Wake Forest
University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109 USA  E-mail:
brownera@wfu.edu.  David J. Anderson, Department of
Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
27109 USA E-mail: da@wfu.edu.  Michele A. Johnson,
Department of Biology, Washington University, St.
Louis, MO 63130 USA   E-mail:
mjohnson@biology2.wustl.edu.
In September 2000, inspectors of the recently estab-
lished Quarantine and Inspection Program on Baltra
Island found caterpillars on a damaged avocado fruit
(Persea americana Mill., Lauraceae) which had come from
mainland Ecuador by plane. The caterpillars were reared
by entomologists at the Charles Darwin Research Station
(CDRS) on Santa Cruz Island, where a male moth emerged
successfully. Subsequently, Lazaro Roque-Albelo (LR)
collected other seeds of avocados 2 km west of Bella Vista
on Santa Cruz Island and reared three female moths of the
same species. Finally, using a mercury vapor light, LR
collected a male specimen at CDRS on February 19, 2001,
at the location called “Barranco”.
A picture of the moth was taken (Fig. 1) and sent to
Bernard Landry (BL) for identification. A tentative deter-
mination was made, and the picture was sent to colleagues
in the United States and Brazil for confirmation. The spe-
cies proved to be Stenoma catenifer Walsingham, a member
of the Gelechioid family Elachistidae (subfamily
PRESENCE OF STENOMA CATENIFER WALSINGHAM
(LEPIDOPTERA, ELACHISTIDAE, STENOMATINAE), THE
AVOCADO SEED MOTH, IN THE GALÁPAGOS
By: Bernard Landry and Lazaro Roque-Albelo
Stenomatinae) sensu Hodges (1999). Although several
species of Stenoma have a similar wing pattern, all Stenoma
specimens reared from avocado fruits so far seen by Dr.
Vitor Becker have been S. catenifer, the avocado seed moth,
or worm (pers. comm. to BL).
The avocado seed moth occurs from Mexico, south to
Brazil, Argentina and Peru (Artigas 1994). Caterpillars
can attack fruits at various stages of maturation (Arellano
Cruz 1998). The presence of caterpillars in larger fruits
can be detected by the appearance of white, chalky look-
ing spots and by accumulations of frass at the hole by
which the larva entered the fruit. Infested fruits fall pre-
maturely.  Newly emerged caterpillars bore through the
crust of the fruit to start eating the pulp, and later the seed
itself.  Mature larvae are about 16 mm long and generally
whitish in color with a black head; they have a slight
greenish tinge that turns to greyish-green in the prepupal
stage, and transverse pale pink bands dorsally (Artigas
1994). Cervantes Peredo et al. (1999) provide illustrations
Opuntia megasperma orientalis, Isla Española.
16 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS No. 62
of the life stages. The larva generally leaves the fruit to
pupate on the ground. The complete life cycle of the moth
took between 31 and 63 days in Venezuela (Boscán de
Martínez and Godoy 1984), the larvae taking between 16
and 33 days to go though their five stages. Moths reach a
wingspan of 13-15 mm. They are nocturnal, live less than
a week, and fly only short distances (Garcia et al. 1967).
The eggs can be laid anywhere on the surface of fruits
(Boscán de Martínez and Godoy 1984).  Different avocado
varieties suffer different levels of attack (0-100%) by S.
catenifer (Arellano Cruz 1998, Hohmann and Meneguim
1993, Ventura et al. 1999). At least seven species of Hy-
menoptera and Diptera parasitoids are known to control
the populations of S. catenifer, and levels of control reached
an average of 70.37% in a study published by Arellano
Cruz (1998). Another species of Lauraceae, Chlorocardium
rodiei (Schomb.) Rohwer, Richter and van der Werff, an
economically important Guyanese endemic tree, is also
affected by S. catenifer (Cervantes Peredo et al. 1999).  How-
ever, measured levels of infestations on this species have
been less than 10%, in contrast to the higher levels on
avocado.
The introduction of S. catenifer to the Galápagos should
not cause any threat to endemic plant taxa because this
species appears to be restricted to Lauraceae, and the
avocado tree is the only member of this plant family on
the Galápagos (Lawesson et al. 1987). However, it may
cause problems for avocado growers, although avocados
are grown on a small scale and are not exported from the
archipelago. Since avocados are grown on Isabela, San
Cristóbal, Santiago, and Floreana, as well as Santa Cruz
(Lawesson et al. 1987), Stenoma catenifer should ultimately
be expected on all those islands. This is the first species of
Stenomatinae recorded from the Galápagos. This is in
striking contrast with the very rich fauna of Stenomatinae
in the Neotropical region, some 1,100 species, including
352 of the genus Stenoma (Becker 1984).
Note: Thanks to Liliana Guaman, we know that Stenoma
catenifer is now established on San Cristóbal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to David
Adamski (Systematic Entomology Lab., National Museum
of Natural History, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) and Dr. Vitor
O. Becker (Planaltina, Brazil) for their rapid determina-
tion of the species. We are also thankful to Jean-François
Landry for his help with a reference, to Charlotte Causton
(CDRS), David Adamski, German Arellano Cruz,
Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina, Peru, and the
editorial team of the Noticias for their comments on the
manuscript, and to the inspectors of the Galápagos Quar-
antine Program for sending specimens.
LITERATURE CITED
Arellano Cruz, G. 1998.  El “barrenador del fruto del palto”
Stenoma catenifer Walsh [sic] y su control natural en
Chanchamayo y Satipo. Ecologia, Revista de la Asociación
Peruana de Ecología (Lima) 1: 55-58.
Artigas, J. N. 1994. Entomología económica. Vol. II. Ediciones
Universidad de Concepcion, Chile. 943 pages.
Becker, V. O. 1984. Oecophoridae (pp. 27-40).  In Heppner, J.
B., ed.  Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera, Checklist: Part 1,
Micropterigoidea - Immoidea. Dr. W. Junk Publishers. The
Hague, xxvii + 112 pages.
Boscán de Martínez, N. and F. J. Godoy. 1984. Observaciones
preliminares sobre la biologia de Stenoma catenifer
Walsingham (Lepidoptera: Stenomidae) talabrador del
aguacate (Persea americana Mill.). Agronomía Tropical
34: 205-208.
Cervantes Peredo, L., C. H. C. Lyal, and V. K. Brown. 1999. The
stenomatine moth, Stenoma catenifer Walsingham: a pre-
dispersal seed predator of Greenheart (Chlorocardium rodiei
(Schomb.) Rohwer, Richter and van der Werff) in Guyana.
Journal of Natural History 33: 531-542.
García, M., M. Mendez, and A. Morales. 1967. El aguacatero,
plagas y enfermedades. Fitofilo 56: 5-30.
Hodges, R. W. 1999. The Gelechioidea (pp. 131-158).  In
Kristensen, N. P., ed.  Handbook of Zoology, Lepidoptera,
Moths and Butterflies, Vol. 1: Evolution, Systematics, and
Biogeography. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, x
+ 491 pp.
Hohmann, C. L. and A. M. Meneguim. 1993. Observaçoes
preliminares sobre a ocorrência da broca do abacate
Stenoma catenifer Wals. no estado do Paraná. Anais da
Sociedade Entomològica do Brasil 22: 417-419.
Lawesson, J. E., H. Adsersen, and P. Bentley. 1987. An updated
and annotated checklist of the vascular plants of the
Galápagos Islands. Reports from the Botanical Institute,
University of Aarhus  #16: 74 pages.
Ventura, M. U., D. Destro, E. C. A. Lopes, and R. Montalván.
1999. Avocado moth (Lepidoptera: Stenomidae) damage
in two avocado cultivars. Florida Entomologist 82: 625-630.
Bernard Landry, Muséum d’histoire naturelle,
CH-1211, Genève 6, Switzerland E-mail:
bernard.landry@mhn.ville-ge.ch.   Lazaro Roque-Albelo,
Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS), Galápagos
Islands, Casilla 17-01-3891, Quito, Ecuador  E-mail:
lazaro@fcdarwin.org.ec
Figure 1.  Stenoma catenifer, the avocado seed moth, or worm.


Presence of Stenoma catenifer Walsingham (Lepidoptera,

Elachistidae, Stenomatinae), the avocado seed moth, in the Galápagos

http://aquaticcommons.org/8581/1/NG_62_2003_Landry%26Roque-Albelo_Stenoma_catenifer.pdf

Presence of Stenoma catenifer Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Elachistidae, Stenomatinae), the avocado seed moth, in the Galápagos

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