Trissodoris honorariella

Trissodoris honorariella, the pandanus leaf perforator or pandanus hole-cutter moth, is a small cosmet moth species (family Cosmopterigidae). It belongs to subfamily Cosmopteriginae and is the type species of the genus Trissodoris. Baron Thomas Walsingham in 1907 had specimens from both ends of the species' range – New Guinea and Pitcairn Island – which he described as separate species Stagmatophora honorariella and S. quadrifasciata in the same work. But his mistake was soon recognized, and when Edward Meyrick established the genus Trissodoris in 1914, he chose the former name to be valid.[1]

Pandanus leaf perforator
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Cosmopterigidae
Genus:
Trissodoris
Species:
T. honorariella
Binomial name
Trissodoris honorariella
(Walsingham, 1907)
Synonyms[1]
  • Stagmatophora honorariella Walsingham, 1907
  • Stagmatophora quadrifasciata Walsingham, 1907
  • Trissodoris honorielle (lapsus)
  • Trissodoris quadrifasciata (Walsingham, 1907)

The habits of this moth have enabled it to be distributed far and wide by the native peoples of the Pacific. These people use the leaves of the moth's food plant Pandanus for the making of mats, baskets, and other items which for generations have accompanied voyaging islanders, and the moth has thus been widely dispersed by man.

Like many related cosmet moths, this species has a short scape which bears a comb of hairs. They can be distinguished except from closely related species by their wing venation: in the forewings, vein 1b is not forked and veins 2–4 are separate, while veins 6–8 are not; the 6th and 7th veins branch off from the stalk of the 8th, while in some related genera the 7th and 8th share a single stalk.[1]

Distribution and ecology

This moth is found all over the Pacific region. Its north- to southwestern limits are Japan, the Caroline Islands of Micronesia, New Guinea and eastern Australia; the reports from the Malay Archipelago (Buru in Indonesia and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo) and particularly Sri Lanka probably represent more recent introductions or accidental records. But most of its range encompasses Polynesia and adjacent Melanesia, where it is found on the New Hebrides, Fiji, the Samoan Islands, Tahiti and perhaps other Society Islands, Pitcairn Island, Rapa Iti, and the Hawaiian Islands (where it is found on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, Lanaʻi and the Big Island). It is found mostly in the lowlands, where its food plants grow best.[1]

The caterpillar larvae feed on Pandanus species,[1] including Pandanus tectorius. They are very long and slender and reach a length of about 15 mm. The larvae mine the dead leaves of their host plant. When they reach maturity, they cut through both upper and lower leaf surfaces. Then they fasten the cut-out sections of leaf together to form their large pupal cases. The cases are usually pulled into the surrounding mined-out interior of the leaf, and this results in clean-cut, ovate holes being made which pass completely through the leaves.

Footnotes
  1. Clarke (1986)

References
  • Clarke, John Frederick Gates (1986): Pyralidae and Microlepidoptera of the Marquesas Archipelago. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 416: 1-485. PDF fulltext (214 MB!)
  • Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii. 9 Microlepidoptera. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. hdl:10125/7338.
  • Japanese Moths
  • Cook Islands Biodiversity Database
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