Gelechiidae

Gnorimoschema

Eurybia divaricata

Alabama

Connecticut

Delaware

District Of Columbia

Georgia

Kentucky

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Tennessee

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Ontario

Quebec

Solidago caesia

Arkansas

Florida

Illinois

Indiana

Louisiana

Michigan

Mississippi

Missouri

Oklahoma

Texas

Wisconsin

New Brunswick

Solidago flexicaulis

Iowa

Kansas

Minnesota

Nebraska

North Dakota

South Dakota

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Solidago uliginosa

Symphyotrichum cordifolium

British Columbia

Gnorimoschema gallaeasterella

At White Point Beach in 1954 the author collected a few *Gnorimoschema* specimens flying over small boggy areas in the vicinity. A search for galls produced several situated very low down on small plants of *Solidago uniligulata* [=*S. uliginosa*], and from one of these an adult was reared which matched the collected specimens excellently. These specimens also agreed well with Kellicott's original figure of *gallaeasterella* and with Fyles's notes on the species (1911) and were therefore considered to belong to Kellicott's species.

On some changes in nomenclature of microlepidoptera, with description of a new species

"Reared adults are reported most often from *Solidago flexicaulis* L., less often from *S. caesia* L., *S. uliginosa* Nutt., and *Aster divaricatus* L...The one adult reared in this study came from *Aster sagittifolius* Wedemeyer in lower Michigan."

"...galls are vertically symmetrical at maturity....and may disrupt ramet development such that no more than a single pair of leaves develops above galls."

"The opening of the adult exit to the outside is located in the upper one-third of the gall."

"...finished exits were capped by intact plant epidermis."

A Comparative Taxonomic-Natural History Study of Eight Nearctic Species of Gnorimoschema that Induce Stem Galls on Asteraceae, Including Descriptions of Three New Species (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Are all these different host reports really referring to the same species of moth? They are all woodland Astereae, but I can't help but wonder whether there have been some mistakes in host identification. Miller (2000) reported that he could only find these galls on *Aster sagittifolius* [now *Symphyotrichum sagittifolium* - if segregated from *S. cordifolium*], from which he reared adults that matched those of the original describer, Kellicott. Judd (1962) could not find any galls on *S. caesia* despite there being large numbers of these plants near a *S. flexicaulis* site with many galls. Earlier sources report galls from *Eurybia* and *Doellingeria*, suggesting a much wider range of acceptable hosts. Busck (1911, 1939) considered this problem of host identification, and concluded that the species may simply have a wide host range. His "*S. latifolia*" is our current *S. flexicaulis*; his *Aster corymbosus* apparently refers to *E. divaricata*. 

Fyles (1911) made a strong case that at least the *Doellingeria* galler is distinct - it would then have his name, *Gnorimoschema gallaediplopappi*. McDunnough (1959) agreed with Fyles, while also adding *Solidago uliginosa* to the list of *G. gallaeasterella* hosts. *Doellingeria* is more distantly-related to the other hosts above than they are to one another, a fact not perhaps not appreciated in earlier decades when it was lumped into "Aster" sensu latissimo. This separation is now followed here on gallformers.org.

I still can't help but wonder how many of these hosts are misidentified or otherwise inaccurately assigned to this species. Multiple moth species being conflated here, each galling a different phylogenetic range of hosts, would explain some discrepancies in gall morphology between Miller (2000) and earlier sources, particularly whether or not this species constructs bungs.

Gallformers ID Notes