Family ELACHISTIDAE

elachistidae

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Introduction

[Modified after Nielsen (1996)].
The family in North Europe was revised by Traugott-Olsen & Nielsen (1977), North America by Braun (1948) and some New Zealand species were reported by Dugdale (1971). Nielsen (1996) listed three genera, and six species. The numbers in 2012, following Kaila's (2011) revision, are now six genera, including 146 species.

The earlier-named Australian species of Elachistidae were mostly described by Meyrick (1897) in the genus Elachista Treitschke and several were named by Turner (1923). Approximately 30 Australian species were estimated by Nielsen & Common (1991) with the majority occurring in southern temperate Australia, the 146 species listed here greatly exceed this number. The genera Elachista Treitschke and Cosmiotes Clemens both occur in Australia with species of Cosmiotes Clemens being locally common and occasionally causing minor damage to wheat. The genus Diacasteris Meyrick has been placed as a synonym of Elachista.

The larvae of most Elachistidae mine in the leaves of monocotyledons.

Of a number of names unplaced by Nielsen (1996) the following are still unplced to genus:

Elachista arctodyta Meyrick, E. (1897). Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 22: 297-435 [336].
Elachista argopis Meyrick, E. (1897). Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 22: 297-435 [337].
Elachista cataptila Meyrick, E. (1897). Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 22: 297-435 [333].
Elachista demogenes Meyrick, E. (1897). Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 22: 297-435 [336].
Elachista metallifera Lower, O.B. (1908). New Australian Lepidoptera. — No. XXV. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 32: 110-120.

General References

Braun, A.F. 1948. Elachistidae of North America (Microlepidoptera). Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 13: 1-110

Dugdale, J.S. 1971. Entomology of the Aucklands and other islands south of New Zealand: Lepidoptera, excluding non-crambine Pyralidae. Pacific Insects 27: 55-172

Kaila, L. 2011. Elachistine Moths of Australia (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Elachistidae). Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera CSIRO PUBLISHING Vol. 11 443 pp.

Meyrick, E. 1897. Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 22: 297-435

Nielsen, E.S. 1996. Elachistidae. p. 96 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM.

Nielsen, E.S. & Common, I.F.B. 1991. Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies). pp. 817-915, pls 7, 8 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. 2 vols. Carlton : Melbourne University Press xiii + vi + 1075 pp., 8 pls.

Traugott-Olsen, E. & Nielsen, E.S. 1977. The Elachistidae (Lepidoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark). Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 6: 1-299

Turner, A.J. 1923. New Australian Microlepidoptera. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 36: 51-81

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