REVISION OF MOTHS OF PRODOXINAE 57 



may be hosts for T. yuccasella. Members of the Ileaperoyucca are 

 pollinated by T. maculata and T. m. extranea and probably not by 

 T. yuccasella. Yucca whipplei (of the Hesperoyucca) has been listed 

 as a host for the latter moth by McKelvey (1947), but this association 

 is questionable. Five females collected by McKelvey on this plant 

 (probably from flowers) were examined and found to be carrying 

 granular poUen not of the whipplei type. Numerous rearing records 

 and pollination observations involving T. yuccasella have been noted 

 for nearly all species of the Chenocarpa, and it has been established 

 that all plants contained therein are associated with this species of 

 Tegeticula and no other. 



Considering the botanical classification of Yucca, our present 

 knowledge on the biology of Tegeticula, and the general variation as 

 observed in the male genitalia, it is tempting to postulate that a 

 specific pollinator has evolved for at least four sections of Yucca. 

 The sections Clistocarpa and Hesperoyucca, as aheady mentioned, are 

 pollinated primarily and probably exclusively by two distinct species 

 of Tegeticula. The members of Chenocarpa are frequented only by T. 

 yuccasella, and it is possible that a sibling form of that moth has 

 or is in the process of evolving as a specific pollinator for the section 

 Sarcocarpa. If ever the existence of such a form is verified, then it 

 most likely will take the name of T. mexicana. The type series of 

 this moth was reared from Y. jilijera Chabaud { = Y. australis), 

 which is a member of the Sarcocarpa. The diameter of the signum for 

 these Mexican spechnens (0.67 mm, N=?) is approximately the same 

 as for females from Y. baccata; however, the dimensions of the male 

 genitaha as figured by Bastida (1962), approach more closely those of 

 the lectotype of T. yuccasella (fig. 107). 



Several factors, ui addition to that just mentioned, cast some 

 doubt on a postulation that a sibling form of Tegeticula exists, or 

 that such a form is host specific for all Sarcocarpa. For instance, 

 two other species listed in table 2, Y. treculeana Carriere and Y. 

 "mohavensis" (=schidigera Roezl), are also members of the Sarcocarpa. 

 As shown in table 2, the one specimen examined from Y. "mohavensis" 

 possessed the shortest genitaha of the enthe series. It is, of course, 

 possible that this host record is a misidentification. This is not 

 likely, however, because this identification, as well as the majority 

 listed in table 2, were made by S. D. McKelvey, an authority on the 

 genus Yucca. It is also possible that the moth m question had merely 

 strayed into the flowers of Y. schidigera, where it was collected, and 

 was in no way intimately associated with the plant. Also, it must be 

 remembered that the measurements of the male genitalia essentially 

 describe only one character; before any taxonomic division of T. 

 yuccasella is made, other characters should be correlated. As noted 



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