Epicephala

Genus of moths From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Epicephala (leafflower moths) is a genus of moths in the family Gracillariidae.

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Epicephala
Epicephala colymbetella
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Gracillariidae
Subfamily: Gracillariinae
Genus: Epicephala
Meyrick, 1880
Species

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Synonyms
  • Iraina Diakonoff, 1955
  • Leiocephala Kuznetzov & Baryschnikova, 2001
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Epicephala is of note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because many species in this genus are pollinators of plants in the genera Glochidion, Phyllanthus, and Breynia (Phyllanthaceae). These pollinating Epicephala actively pollinate the flowers of their host plants—thereby ensuring that the plants may produce viable seeds—but also lay eggs in the flowers' ovaries, where their larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds as nourishment.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] This relationship is similar to other specialized pollinating seed-predation mutualisms such as those between figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths.

Other species of Epicephala consume the seeds of species of Phyllanthus or Flueggea (Phyllanthaceae) as larvae, but do not pollinate their host plants as adults.[4][8] At least some of these species have evolved from pollinating ancestors.[9]

Species

References

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