Atteva punctella

[Chip Taylor]

Atteva punctella is carried northward on strong winds each spring in 
April and last week there was a strong southerly flow from TX through 
the midwest. There are no hosts for this species in MN. The only 
known hosts are in the Simaroubaceae of which there are few species 
in the new world. The genus has it's highest diversity in the Asian 
tropics. There are several new world species of Atteva and punctella 
seems to have jumped from native Simaroubas, which are tropical and 
subtropical in distribution, to Ailanthus. Curiously, Atteva is not 
found, to the best of my knowledge, on Ailanthus in the front range 
or anywhere west of the Rockies even though a form indistinguishable 
from punctella occurs in AZ on "Crown of Thorns".

As I recall, this issue came up last year when a specimen was found 
in the spring in Nova Scotia or New Brunwick.

>I'm looking for some additional information about this species 
>(Ailanthus webworm). A colleague just came in with a freshly emerged 
>specimen he found while walking in a forest near Minneapolis (the 
>snow has barely gone). Covell's book does not appear to include MN 
>in the range, though "New York to Neb." comes close. What I am most 
>curious about is the host plant or plants: ailanthus (Ailanthus 
>altissima), also known as "the tree of heaven", is all I have found 
>in the literature. This species is not documented as occurring in 
>MN. Covell also gives "paradise tree", but I haven't been able to 
>figure out what this is. Are other hosts known? And is the moth 
>introduced to N.A. along with ailanthus?
>
>Thanks for any help.
>
>Robert
>
>*************************************************************
>Robert Dana, Ph.D.
>MN DNR
>Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program
>500 Lafayette Rd, Box 25
>St. Paul, MN 55155
>651 297-2367
>Email: robert.dana at dnr.state.mn.us
>*************************************************************
>
>
>
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