Sesiidae & The Lake Okeechobee Gourd

[Vincent Lucas]

All:

I live in SW Florida. Nearby Lake Okeechobee (the largest lake in  
Florida) has an endemic, endangered gourd named after it, the  
Okeechobee Gourd (Cucurbita okeechobeensis okeechobeensis Small).  
This gourd has only two known locations in the world, on the southern  
edge of Lake Okeechobee and one in Volusia County, Florida along the  
St. Johns River per the USFWS. Recently, a friend, Eric Gehring of  
the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation (www.ArtMarshall.org), photographed  
a couple of these gourds for me since he has a boat and is able to  
get to the location which is otherwise inaccessible. You can see the  
photos here:

http://www.caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/okeegourd1.jpg

and

http://www.caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/okeegourd2.jpg

Copyright belongs to Eric Gehring and may not be reproduced without  
express permission by him. Notice that the Okeechobee Gourds are  
hanging from a Pond Apple (Annona glabra -- Family: Annonaceae) which  
is now in standing water due to the high levels of the lake brought  
on by our summer tropical storms. Since the Okeechobee Gourd is a  
member of the Cucurbitaceae – Cucumber family, is there any  
possibility that any of the clearwing moths of the family Sesiidae  
utilize it as a larval host? There are six members of genus Melittia  
in North America that utilize the Cucurbitaceae as larval foodplants  
per Eichlin, T.D. and W.D. Duckworth, 1988. Sesiodea: Sesiidae in  
Dominick, R.B., et al., The Moths Of America North Of Mexico, fasc.  
5.1. The larvae bore into the vines of the plants as most of you  
know. Does anyone know if anyone has ever studied the Sesiidae in  
relation to the Okeechobee Gourd? This would probably make for a good  
PH.D thesis! Any thoughts on this matter?

Cheers.

Vince

Vincent Lucas
Naples, FL
vplucas at comcast.net
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leppyone/
http://www.caloosabirdclub.org


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