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| Senita moth | |
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| Scientific classification | |
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| Genus: | Capps, 1964[1]
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| Species: | U. virescens
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| Binomial name | |
| Upiga virescens (Hulst, 1900)
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The senita moth (Upiga virescens) is a nocturnal moth of family Crambidae, and the sole member of genus Upiga. It is pinkish-brown in color with forewings of 7 to 10 mm.[2]
It is native to North America, where it is found throughout the Sonoran Desert.[3] The moth is best known for its obligate mutualism with Pachycereus schottii, the senita cactus. The senita moth is one of the few pollinators of the senita cactus, and the moth relies on the cactus as a host for reproduction. Larvae bore into flowers and eat the developing fruit inside. This obligate mutualism is similar to that of yuccas and yucca moths.[4]
Description
editThe senita moth is pinkish-brown in color, with wide, white stripes traversing the body from head to wing tip. It is relatively small, with forewings of 7 to 10 mm in length. The abdomen of the female is covered with scales, which are used to collect pollen from senita cactus flowers.[4]
Distribution
editThe senita moth is native to the Sonoran Desert, where it is found in Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California.[4]
Life cycle
editThe life cycle of the senita moth is completely reliant on the moth’s host plant, the senita cactus.[2] The senita cactus has an extended flowering season during which several moth generations are completed.[5]
Egg
editEggs are laid singly on open senita cactus flowers, either on the petals, anthers, or the corolla tube.[3]
Larva
editLarvae hatch within hours to three days of egg-laying, first instar larvae boring into the flowers of the senita cactus towards the developing fruit. This occurs within five to six days, as the corolla becomes impenetrable after this point, blocking larvae access to the fruit. The second instar begins once larvae start eating the developing fruit, the third instar after the larvae reach eight days of age. Larvae bore an exit hole through the fruit and, at 12 to 17 days of age, either pupate or enter diapause to overwinter in the stem and emerge in a later flowering season.[2]
Pupa
editPupation takes place in the cactus stem and adults emerge from exit holes created during the previous larval stage.[2]
Adult
editAdults exhibit two primary behaviors, mating, which occurs on mature cactus spines, and flower visitation. Flowers are visited by females, who collect pollen using the posterior brush, actively deposit pollen on stigmas, and oviposit on flowers. Additionally, moths may enter the flower for nectar collection.[4] Adults rest on cactus spines during the day.[5]
Unlike other Lepidopteran, whose larvae undergo at least four instars, senita moth larvae have only three instars. This could be due to size limitations, where larvae that continue to grow past the third instar are too large to emerge from exit holes, time constraints, where larval growth must be completed before fruit matures completely, or to order to keep life cycle time short so that multiple generations can be completed in a single flowering season.[2]
Larval host plant
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The senita moth is a host specific, obligate mutualist with the senita cactus. Females lay eggs on host plant flowers, larvae feeding off of the developing fruit inside.[4]
Oviposition
editOviposition takes place on senita cactus flowers, which open after sunset for six to 12 hours, from late March to September.[4][6] Eggs are laid evenly among flowers, with only one egg laid per flower. Flowers are open for only one night each. Singular oviposition is thought to reduce competition for food resources among larvae as well as reduce the overall risk of larval death from fruit abortion by spreading eggs among several flowers.[3]
Of the parts of the flower, females oviposit most frequently on petals, however, when accounting for variation in surface area, oviposition occurs more frequently on the anthers and corolla tube. These eggs have a 40% greater survival rate when compared to eggs laid on petals, perhaps due to the shortened distance to the fruit from anthers and the corolla tube or due to the added difficulty of entering the fruit from sticky, wilting petals.[3]
Survivorship
editLess than 20% of larvae survive to six days of age. This survivorship is important in maintaining the moth’s mutualist relationship with the senita cactus; since larvae presence causes fruit abscission and seed destruction, low larval survivorship is necessary for the senita moth’s presence to be beneficial to the cactus. Larval survivorship is reduced by a low egg hatching percentage, corolla-induced mortality, resource-limited fruit abortion, and wasp parasitism.[4]
Parasitism
editA significant proportion, 12 to 17%, of moths that survive to pupation are killed by endoparasitic wasps.[4]
Mutualism
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The senita moth is an obligate mutualist with the senita cactus; pollination of the senita cactus is dependent on the senita moth, and, in turn, the senita moth is reliant on the senita cactus for oviposition and larval food sources.[5][7]
This mutualistic relationship is present throughout the senita moth’s range, suggesting there is strong selective pressure on traits that maintain mutualism.[8]
Coevolution
editSeveral traits of the senita cactus allowed for the coevolution of mutualism with the senita moth, including nocturnal flower opening, when the senita moth is the only active pollinator, self-incompatibility, which favors interactions with pollinators, and resource-limited fruit set with a reduction in nectar production, which again favors interaction with a specific pollinator.[5]
Similarity to other obligate pollinators
editThe senita moth is the sixth example of pollination with seed consumption, and the third known example of obligate pollination with seed consumption.[4][7] Senita cactus and senita moth mutualism is similar to the mutualism seen with figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths.[4] The senita moth’s mutualism is unique in that it is not the sole pollinator of its host plant. This is atypical of specialized, obligate mutualism, and could suggest that the senita cactus is in an evolutionary transition state from a general mutualism with co-pollinators to a complete reliance on the senita moth for pollination.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Global Pyraloidea database". Globiz.pyraloidea.org. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
- ^ a b c d e Holland, J. Nathaniel (2003-07-01). "Life Cycle and Growth of Senita Moths (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): A Lepidopteran with Less Than Four Instars?". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 96 (4): 519–523. doi:10.1603/0013-8746(2003)096[0519:lcagos]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0013-8746.
- ^ a b c d Holland, J.; Buchanan, A.; Loubeau, R. (2004). "Oviposition choice and larval survival of an obligately pollinating granivorous moth". Evolutionary Ecology Research. 6: 607–618.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Holland, J. Nathaniel; Fleming, Theodore H. (1999-09-01). "Mutualistic Interactions Between Upiga Virescens (pyralidae), a Pollinating Seed-Consumer, and Lophocereus Schottii (cactaceae)". Ecology. 80 (6): 2074–2084. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(1999)080[2074:mibuvp]2.0.co;2. ISSN 1939-9170.
- ^ a b c d Fleming, Theodore H.; Holland, J. Nathaniel (1998). "The Evolution of Obligate Pollination Mutualisms: Senita Cactus and Senita Moth". Oecologia. 114 (3): 368–375. doi:10.2307/4221942.
- ^ a b Holland, Nathaniel J.; Fleming, Theodore H. (2002-12-01). "Co-pollinators and specialization in the pollinating seed-consumer mutualism between senita cacti and senita moths". Oecologia. 133 (4): 534–540. doi:10.1007/s00442-002-1061-y. ISSN 0029-8549.
- ^ a b Hartmann, Stefanie; Nason, John D.; Bhattacharya, Debashish (2002-07-01). "Phylogenetic origins of Lophocereus (Cactaceae) and the senita cactus–senita moth pollination mutualism". American Journal of Botany. 89 (7): 1085–1092. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.7.1085. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 21665708.
- ^ Holland, J. Nathaniel; Fleming, Theodore H. (1999). "Geographic and Population Variation in Pollinating Seed-Consuming Interactions between Senita Cacti (Lophocereus schottii) and Senita Moths (Upiga virescens)". Oecologia. 121 (3): 405–410. doi:10.2307/4222483.