Add this Plant to your Plant List Please first create an account and name your plant list so you can access whenever you want. Moth larvae feed on the developing seeds. Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) is a common plant in the Great Plains but also occurs in dry sandy and loess soils in Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. Pellmyr, Olle. Yuccas are perennial shrubs and trees currently placed by many authorities into the family Asparagaceae and subfamily Agavoideae (3). Additional Sources of Information Related to "Insects". Certain species of the yucca moth have evolved antagonistic features against the plant and do not assist in the plant's pollination efforts while continuin… It is a host plant for the Yucca Moth. North American Moth Photographers Group at the Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University, 210044.00-0200.1. At the same time, Riley significantly contributed to the general knowledge of insect biology with studies of the 13 and 17- year cicadas, and the pollination of yuccas---a subject of special interest to Charles Darwin (1). The Five-spotted Bogus Yucca Moth is known from only two sites in Canada, one of which was discovered in 2011. Range. Engelmann asked then Missouri State Entomologist, Charles Riley, to investigate the relationship between moths and yuccas. When the eggs are inserted, she deposits a little pollen from the previous yucca flower onto the second flower’s stigma and packing it tightly. Tegeticula yuccasella. In the central United States, soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) is pollinated by a moth known as Tegeticulla yuccasella. The narrative follows that when a gravid female yucca moth is ready to lay eggs, she visits a yucca flower to collect pollen with specialized maxillary palp mouthparts called tentacles. ; Reveal, J.L. baccata. Yucca is also native to some of the islands of the Caribbean. Alternative Title: Tegeticula. Prodoxus moths completely lack tentacular appendages on the maxillary palps possessed by the pollinating genera. Ecologically, yuccas are adapted to a wide range of habitats from rocky deserts, grassland prairies, mountains, light woodlands’ coastal sands, and semi-arid subtropical and semi-temperate zones (4). The mature larvae emerge from the fruit and burrow into the soil for pupation (11). The early developmental stages of the moth (the larvae, or caterpillars), are found inside Yucca flowers (also known as Soapweed), where they feed on developing seeds. The moth family Prodoxidae is a primitive group, some of which were the first nocturnal moths. Each spring, adult moths emerge from underground cocoons and the males and females meet up with each other on yucca plants to mate. Yucca Wild Buckwheat Eriogonum plumatella Eriogonum plumatella + Added; 6 Banana Yucca Yucca baccata var. Version 13 January 1997. Prodoxids are members of the superfamily Incurvarioidea. The young larvae bore into the young fruit of Y. schottii and Y. elephantipella forming galls that replace several seeds. Here's some links if you want to download a whole group. If everyone who uses this resource gives a small amount, we could cover our ongoing costs, develop new features, and upgrade the system. An important plant for wildlife, it provides food and nesting for small mammals, birds, and reptiles. The first recorded observation of yucca moths was made by physician and botanist, George Engelmann in St. Louis in 1872. We depend on donations to keep Butterflies and Moths of North America online and freely available. 1999. Two of the three yucca moth genera in particular, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, have an obligate pollination mutualism with yuccas. Two genera, Tegeticula and Parategeticula are known as “true yucca moths”; a third genus, Prodoxus, are “bogus yucca moths”, and a fourth genus, the closely related Greya (sometimes called greya moths) are of interest for plant-insect coevolutionary studies. Ecologists long believed that one species of yucca moth (Tegeticula synthetica) pollinates both kinds of Joshua trees. Although dozens of other yucca moth and yucca plant species have similar relationships, the Tegeticula yuccasella andYucca elata,in the United States' … … Interactions of these organisms range from obligate mutualism to commensalism to outright antagonism. In Canada, Y. glauca and its pollinator moth Tegeticula yuccasella are both protected species. Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths (family Prodoxidae); the insect transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigmaof another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, always leaving enough seed to perpetuate the species. They are famous for an old and intimate relationship with Yucca plants and are their obligate pollinators as well as herbivores. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the developing seeds within the fruit; fortunately, there are more seeds than the larvae can eat. Since greya moths are closely related to yucca moths they have become the subjects of numerous plant-insect coevolutionary studies. 210044.00 – 0200.1 – Prodoxus decipiens – Bogus Yucca Moth – Riley, 1880 Photographs are the copyrighted property of each photographer listed. Yucca moths are members of the family Prodoxidae and the genus Tegeticula. It’s a particularly important one because neither the yucca or the moth can survive without the other. © Copyright 2021, Sibley Nature Center. They co-evolved over millions of years, and maintain a mutual dependence. The different closely related species, all of which are generally referred to as yucca moths, are difficult to distinguish without examination under a … The pistil (female part) of each flower ends in a three-lobed stigma.In order for pollination to occur, masses of pollen must be forced down into this central stigmatic hole. As a group, they are smallish and nondescript. Recently the species traditionally called T. yuccasella has been identified as being a complex of at least 13 species, many of which have very distinctive biology. One species endemic to Mexico, Y. queretaroensis, is listed under CITES Appendix II, which restricts international trade in this rare, endangered plant. All species of Prodoxus complete their entire metamorphosis inside the host plant tissue, and only emerge as adults, and in some species after many years of larval diapause (12). Examples include: 1. The adults are small, diurnal, and have tiny spines covering their wings. Greya subalba. He became the first state entomologist for Missouri primarily to study grasshoppers and the grasshopper plagues of the American West between 1873 and 1877. Bees - Discover Life. Likewise, Prodoxus use yucca as a host but without offering pollination services. Some of them have larvae that feed on developing seeds. Yuccas are only pollinated by th… The moths then fly to another flower, where they use their tentacles to deposit the pollen onto the floral stigma – the receptive surface where the pollen needs to land in order to fertilize the flower. In the Southwest, one of their most iconic partners is the Joshua tree. All Rights Reserved. The yucca moths have a unique biology and are well-noted for their ancient relationships with Yucca ranging from obligate mutualism to commensalism to antagonism. Systematic revision of the yucca moths in the. The flowers on non-pollinated Yuccas are noted for their evergreen rosettes of tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of whitish flowers. Several yucca species are protected in the states in which they occur. One species, Parategeticula pollenifera, can be found in the pine-oak forests in southwestern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Veracruz, Mexico, and is known to coexist with a member of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex. Each species seems to pollinate a different species of yucca, so these relationships are mostly exclusive. 1997. Yucca is also native to the southeastern United States from Texas to Maryland. whitish moth that blends well with the color of the yucca blossoms where it spends most of its brief adult life For more than 40 million years there has been a relationship between yucca plants and yucca moths. The Yucca Moth family is a primitive one that is found worldwide, though not all Prodoxids are involved with yuccas. Finally the yucca-moth mutualism (living together in such a way as to increase each other’s reproductive success) is vulnerable to exploitation by cheaters: other moth species lay eggs within fertilized flowers but do not pollinate the flower. Since 2003, researchers have discovered that what they thought was one moth is actually two distinct species, each specially adapted to pollinate one of two subtly different varieties of Joshua tree. Information on this Species is incomplete... Yucca Moth. The yucca plant is dependent upon the yucca moth for its survival and perpetuation of yucca plants. Parategeticula are the other mutualistic pollinators of various Yucca species. Biologists have only recently determined that almost every species of yucca has its own species of yucca moth; some yuccas have two moth species. The yucca-yucca moth pollination mutualism is an excellent model in this context as there have been two origins of cheating from within the yucca moth lineage. There are about 12 genera known, five of which occur in western North America with over 50 species (6). Over millions of years of coevolution, the yucca moth has come to depend exclusively on the yucca plant blossoms as a repository for eggs and on the seeds as a food source for its larvae, and the yucca plant has come to depend exclusively on the moth as an agent for pollination. Top Yucca moth, (genus Tegeticula), any of four species of insects of the Prodoxidae family of moths (order Lepidoptera). Riley and two California-based assistants, Albert Koebele and D.W. Coquillett are most noted for pioneering the principles of biological pest control, but they also had avocational interests in the microlepidopterans, including yucca moths (2). Look for this PDF icon at the top of each page as you search and browse. Like Tegeticula, the females of P. pollenifera have maxillary tentacles used for gathering pollen and actively pollinate its host plants, but unlike Tegeticula, the females possess a blunt ovipositor used to prepare a groove, usually in a flower pedicel, and lay a row of eggs. Each of these species may be independently viewed, and a dichotomous key to the males and females of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex is available on the Tree of Life Web Project (http://tolweb.org), but the key is written more for the professional lepidopterist with the knowledge and training in insect anatomy and the dissection, preparation, and microscopic examination of insect genitalia. baccata Yucca baccata var. Only true yucca moths are known to pollinate yucca flowers. Password. Larval survival is dependent on the mutualistic relationship between the Soapweed and its pollinator Yucca Moth. Charles Valentine Riley (1843-1895) was a British-born American entomologist and talented natural history artist. Of the 80 or so species found worldwide, about 30 are native to North America. 3. P. quinquepunctella (eastern form) (13), is larger, white, and can easily be mistaken for some members of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex (14). Pellmyr, Olle. Yucca moths (Tegeticula yuccasella) are actually a group of more than a dozen different species of small, rather nondescript whitish-gray bronze tinged moths. These small moths are typically white or gray and have relatively prominent maxillary and labial palpi that are shorter than the proboscis. 2. Species: spp. “A Sub-familial Classification for the Expanded Aspergalean Families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae, and Xanthorraceae.”. Females use the tentacles of their maxillary palps to collect and compact the dense, sticky pollen from yucca flowers. When the growing larvae have finished feeding on seeds, they burrow exit holes through the tissues of the fruit, drop to the ground, and burrow into the soil to complete metamorphosis within a cocoon (7). This moth species is an obligate stem borer on the stalks of Soapweed. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?=Yucca&oldid=954950506, https://en.wikipediaorg/w/index.php?title=Species_complex&oldid=957323164, http://tolweb.org/Tegeticula/12419/1997.01.13, https://tolweb.org/Prategeticula_pollenifera/12420/1996.01.01, http://tolweb.org/Prodoxus/12422/1997.01.13, http://tolweb.org/Prodoxus_quinquepunctellus/12428/1996.01.01, http://tolweb.org/Prodoxidae/11872/1997.01.13, Pellmyr, Olle. Among them are two non-pollinating species of 'cheater yucca moths'. Information on this Species is incomplete... Alberta Lepidopterists' Guild. Their bore holes are a common sight on trunks of such plants as the soaptree yucca. The key component of yucca moth habitat is the occurrence of yucca plants. Email Address. The word "coevolution" speaks to organisms or systems that have interacted in ways that have influenced their evolution over time. Migration and Dispersal They are small, white, and grub-like, turning pink to dark red with age. Contact … When a female is ready to lay eggs, she first goes to a yucca flower to collect pollen. Information on this Species is incomplete... Bumble Bee Species Accounts at Montana Entomology Collection, Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers, Native Wildflowers and Bees of Western Montana, Natural Heritage MapViewer (Statewide Database of Animal Observations), North American Dragonflies - Slater Museum of Natural History, USDA Grasshoppers: their biology, identification, and management, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Often, rigorous studies of minute morphological details, tests of reproductive isolation, DNA analysis, and molecular biology techniques will be used to draw the dividing lines between species (9). You can download select species by searching or when you're on a Taxa page like Class, Order, and Family. The Five-spotted Bogus Yucca Moth is known from only two sites in Canada, one of which was discovered in 2011. It has a wingspan of 18 to 28 mm, and females are slightly larger than males. Most Prodoxus species are smaller than Tegeticula, but one species, P. decipiens (elevated from Syn. Larval survival is dependent on the mutualistic relationship between … Prodoxus larvae feed on the vegetative parts of yuccas, but each species is highly specific in what tissues are used. Prodoxidae. Yucca moths are native to the Southwest, but their range has expanded north and east with yucca plants. I am studying whether the pollination mutualism or the seed-eating antagonism is the major driver in moth specialization. The Yucca Moth is typically 0.4 inches to 0.5 inches (12mm to 13mm) in size and has the following descriptors / identifiers: white, black, gray, white, speckled, spotted, dots, flying, garden pest . 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