First discovery of leaf-mining Nepticulidae and Tischeriidae (Lepidoptera) associated with the Chilean endemic genus Podanthus Lag. (Asteraceae) as a host-plant.

In total, 121 genera and 863 species of Asteraceae are native to Chile (Moreira-Muñoz & Muñoz-Schick,2007; Moreira-Muñoz, 2011). Podanthus Lag. is an endemic genus of Asteraceae (Asteroideae, Heliantheae)occurring in central Mediterranean Chile. No leaf-mining Nepticulidae or Tischeriidae have ever beenrecorded on Podanthus (Puplesis & Robinson, 2000; Stonis, 2014). Studies of reared material collected bythe first author from Chile (Region Metropolitana de Santiago, Rio Clarillo) resulted in the discovery ofone new species of Stigmella (Nepticulidae) and one previously poorly-known species Astrotischeria chileiPuplesis & Diškus, 2003 (Tischeriidae) (Fig. 1).The new nepticulid species belongs to the Stigmella salicis group and clearly differs from all other speciesof the group by shape and number of cornuti in the phallus. The new species is a leaf-miner on Podanthusovatifolius Lag. After the ‘Formula of Evaluation of Abundance and Occurrence of Leaf-miners’ (seeStonis et al., 2012: 52–54; Stonis et al., unpublished), the new leaf-miner on Podanthus ovatifolius is not rarein central Chile: limited in distribution but abundant (more than 20 leaf-mines recorded at a single site).In the original description of A. chilei (see Puplesis & Diškus, 2003) the ink drawings and photographsof the male genitalia are very accurate but neither females nor trophical relationships of the species wereknown or described. New material allowed a redescription of A. chilei, with the first photographic documentationof the leaf-mines and female genitalia (Stonis et al., in prep.). Astrotischeria chilei differs from allother known Astrotischeria in the dorsal lobe of the valva which is narrowed in distal half but in the ventralview always appears broad; the host-plant (Podanthus ovatifolius) also makes this species distinctive. Larvaemine leaves in April producing specific blotch mines. After the ‘Formula of Evaluation of Abundanceand Occurrence of Leaf-miners’ (Stonis et al., 2012; Stonis et al., unpublished), A. chilei is common in centralChile: limited in distribution, but extremely abundant mining.DiskusStonis2014