Ophraella communa LeSage

Eiseman, Charles S., Feldman, Tracy S. & Palmer, Michael W., 2024, New larval host records, parasitoid records, and DNA barcoding data for North American leaf-mining leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomeloidea), Zootaxa 5549 (1), pp. 1-60 : 49

Ophraella communa LeSage

Barcoded specimen. NORTH CAROLINA: Scotland Co., Laurinburg, St. Andrews University , 27.ix.2016, extracted 29.ix.2016, T . S. Feldman, ex Ambrosia artemisiifolia , # CSE3721 (1 larva, ZFMK) .

Host. Asteraceae : Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. is the primary host of Ophraella communa , but larvae have also been found feeding on A. confertiflora DC. , A. cumanensis Kunth , A. psilostachya DC. , and Iva axillaris Pursh , and adults have been collected from various other plants ( Palmer & Goeden 1991; Clark et al. 2004).

Biology. As far as is known, larvae of all Ophraella spp. including O. communa feed on leaves externally and pupate within cocoons. The cocoon of O. communa is often on exposed foliage or among the branches of the inflorescence of the host plant ( Futuyma 1990). The barcoded larva was found dead in a cocoon it had spun inside a puffy leaf mine, which we believe was made by a larva of Leucospilapteryx venustella (Clemens) ( Lepidoptera : Gracillariidae ). The beetle larva appears to have entered through a hole chewed in the lower epidermis, and it likely used the mine only as a pupation site without feeding inside.

Notes. The barcode of this larva belongs to BIN BOLD:ACH6687, which includes 577 specimens identified as Ophraella communa and ten identified as O. bilineata (Kirby) ; the latter species is a specialist on Heterotheca villosa (Pursh) Shinners ( Clark et al. 2004) , so we feel it is safe to assign the larva to O. communa . The appearance of an Ophraella larva in a leaf mine is interesting given the close relationship of this genus to Monoxia (composed ~entirely of leafminers) and Erynephala (with at least one stem-mining species) ( Futuyma 1990).