Brazilian Microlep help

[Pierre Zagatti]

Doug Yanega wrote:
> 
> Just had a student bring me a tough one, and thought I'd ask around for
> people who can tackle it or suggest a reliable way I can do so. Seems that
> there is a type of lep larva making webs that run around the inner
> circumference of the entrances of bee nests, and the student studying the
> bees is looking for an ID. He has one adult now, forewings gray with
> fringes, and about 9 mm long, so it's a decent-sized microlep. But getting
> an ID to even family level is pretty much beyond me, so, do we have any
> microlep lovers on the list who might be able to help, or do I have to
> start tearing off wings, stripping scales, and praying that it's a family
> included in Borro & DeLong?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help,
> 

Hi Doug,

Just an idea: the biology sounds like that of many Galleriinae
(Pyralidae).
Many species live as commensals/parasites of Hymenoptera nests, and many
species make webs at the ground level as larvae.

Look at the adults. Just under the hind coxae (i.e. on the first abd.
sternite)
you should find the tympanic membranes, as a pair of large flat drums.
OK, it's belonging to the Pyraloidea. Now if you find a sort of
operculum
between the tympanum and the coxa (praecinctorium), it's a Crambidae
(s.s.):
mainly Pyraustinae and Crambinae (look at an European Corn Borer to find 
this structure). If there is no praecinctorium, it's a Pyralidae 
sensu stricto: Pyralinae, Phycitinae and Galleriinae among others.

There are several characters diagnostic of the Galleriinae, the 
most easy to observe concerns the sexual dimorphism of labial palpi:
the females have always long and straight palpi whereas the male
have short, hooked palpi that are normally applied against the front.

You may find some pictures of this in a very old paper :-)
(Zagatti, 1981, Behaviour 78: 81-98).

The labial palpi of the males are used to grasp the female thorax
during mating, in a very unusual mounting behavior.

Pierre

-- 
Pierre ZAGATTI
INRA Unite de Phytopharmacie et Mediateurs Chimiques
78026 Versailles Cedex
FRANCE
Tel: (33) 1 30 83 31 18
e-mail zagatti at versailles.inra.fr
http://www.jouy.inra.fr/papillon/