For more than 40 million years there has been a relationship between yucca plants and yucca moths. North American Moth Photographers Group at the Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University, 210044.00-0200.1. The first recorded observation of yucca moths was made by physician and botanist, George Engelmann in St. Louis in 1872. William E. Ferguson. Recently the species traditionally called T. yuccasella has been identified as being a complex of at least 13 species, many of which have very distinctive biology. © Copyright 2021, Sibley Nature Center. Birds and bats are common predators of … Two of the three yucca moth genera in particular, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, have an obligate pollination mutualism with yuccas. The T. yuccasella complex is now composed of 10 newly described yucca pollinator species (altiplanella, baccatella, carnerosanella, cassandra, elatella, maderae, mojavella, rostratella, superficiella, and treculeanella) and two non-pollinating “cheater” species (intermedia and corruptrix) that oviposit directly into yucca fruit (10). Contact … The early developmental stages of the moth (the larvae, or caterpillars), are found inside Yucca flowers (also known as Soapweed), where they feed on developing seeds. Yuccas are only pollinated by th… Examples include: 1. Email Address. Biologists have only recently determined that almost every species of yucca has its own species of yucca moth; some yuccas have two moth species. "Yucca moths" have a remarkable biology. I am studying whether the pollination mutualism or the seed-eating antagonism is the major driver in moth specialization. The young larvae bore into the young fruit of Y. schottii and Y. elephantipella forming galls that replace several seeds. The Five-spotted Bogus Yucca Moth is known from only two sites in Canada, one of which was discovered in 2011. Like Tegeticula, the females of P. pollenifera have maxillary tentacles used for gathering pollen and actively pollinate its host plants, but unlike Tegeticula, the females possess a blunt ovipositor used to prepare a groove, usually in a flower pedicel, and lay a row of eggs. Often, rigorous studies of minute morphological details, tests of reproductive isolation, DNA analysis, and molecular biology techniques will be used to draw the dividing lines between species (9). All species of Prodoxus complete their entire metamorphosis inside the host plant tissue, and only emerge as adults, and in some species after many years of larval diapause (12). In the central United States, soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) is pollinated by a moth known as Tegeticulla yuccasella. Yucca moths are members of the family Prodoxidae and the genus Tegeticula. It is a host plant for the Yucca Moth. Parategeticula are the other mutualistic pollinators of various Yucca species. Several yucca species are protected in the states in which they occur. Here's some links if you want to download a whole group. One species endemic to Mexico, Y. queretaroensis, is listed under CITES Appendix II, which restricts international trade in this rare, endangered plant. Yucca moths (Tegeticula yuccasella) are actually a group of more than a dozen different species of small, rather nondescript whitish-gray bronze tinged moths. There are about 12 genera known, five of which occur in western North America with over 50 species (6). Alternative Title: Tegeticula. “Yuccas, Yucca Moths, and Coevolution: A Review.”, Chase, M.W. whitish moth that blends well with the color of the yucca blossoms where it spends most of its brief adult life Most of the Tegeticula and Parategeticula are obligate pollinators, but two species of Tegeticula have circumvented the act of pollination and become cheaters by taking advantage of Yucca as a host plant, but without contribution. Top Some of them have larvae that feed on developing seeds. One species, Parategeticula pollenifera, can be found in the pine-oak forests in southwestern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Veracruz, Mexico, and is known to coexist with a member of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex. At the same time, Riley significantly contributed to the general knowledge of insect biology with studies of the 13 and 17- year cicadas, and the pollination of yuccas---a subject of special interest to Charles Darwin (1). 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