Prodoxidae

Prodoxidae is a family of primitive monotrysian Lepidoptera. Some of these small-to-medium sized moths are day flying, like Lampronia capitella, known to European gardeners as the "Currant Shoot Borer"[1]. Others occur in Africa and Asia.Tetragma gei feeds on Mountain Avens Geum triflorum in USA. Greya politella lay eggs in the flowers of Saxifragaceae there. The last five genera listed here are confined to dry areas of the United States. Prodoxoides asymmetra occurs in Chile and Argentina (Nielsen and Davis, 1985), but all other prodoxid moth genera have a northern distribution. The enigmatic genus Tridentaforma is sometimes placed here and assumed to be close to Lampronia, while other authors consider it incertae sedis among the closely related family Adelidae.

"Yucca Moths" have a remarkable biology. They are famous for an old and intimate relationship with Yucca plants and are their obligate pollinators as well as herbivores (Pellmyr et al., 1996). Interactions of these organisms range from obligate mutualism to commensalism to outright antagonism. Their bore holes are a common sight on trunks of such plants as the Soaptree yucca. Two of the three yucca moth genera in particular, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, have an obligate pollination mutualism with yuccas. Yuccas are only pollinated by these moths, and the pollinator larvae feed exclusively on yucca seeds. Species of the third genus of yucca moths, Prodoxus, are not engaged in the pollination mutualism, nor do the larvae feed on developing seeds. Their eggs are deposited in fruits and leaves, where they eat and grow, not emerging until fully mature. The adult Yucca moths are usually quite small and have tiny spines covering their wings.

References

• Davis, D.R. (1999). The Monotrysian Heteroneura. Ch. 6, pp. 65-90 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.
• Nielsen, E.S. and Davis, D.R. (1985). The first southern hemisphere prodoxid and the phylogeny of the Incurvarioidea (Lepidoptera). Systematic Entomology, 10: 307-322.
• Pellmyr, O., Thompson, J.N., Brown, J. and Harrison, R.G. (1996). Evolution of pollination and mutualism in the yucca moth lineage. American Naturalist, 148: 827-847.
• Pellmyr, O., J. N. Thompson, J. Brown, and R. G. Harrison. (1996). Evolution of pollination and mutualism in the yucca moth lineage. American Naturalist 148: 827–847.
• Powell, J. A. (1992). Interrelationships of yuccas and yucca moths. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7: 10–15, Britannica Online Encyclopedia.

External links

• Tree of Life Comprehensive overview of Yucca Moths
• UK Moths Lampronia
• Tetragma gei
• Greya politella
• Agavenema
• Prodoxoides asymmetra