Microrhopala floridana Schwarz

Microrhopala floridana Schwarz (Fig. 57) Collected mines. NORTH CAROLINA: New Hanover Co., Carolina Beach, 27.xi.2020, T.S. Feldman, Pityopsis graminifolia [with live larva] (BG 1919512); Onslow Co., near Camp LeJeune, 28.vii.2021, T.S. Feldman, Pityopsis graminifolia [with larva]. Host. Asteraceae: Pityopsis graminifolia (Michx.) Nutt. (McCauley 1938). Biology. McCauley (1938) stated only that this species has been reared from larvae mining in the terminal portions of the leaves. Staines (2006) noted that adult feeding damage consists of linear stripes up to 2 cm long and 1.5 mm wide, parallel with the leaf veins. We were unable to rear adults, but we presume that the mines and larvae we observed represent M. floridana, as no other hispine has been associated with Pityopsis. The egg is deposited singly in the middle of the leaf on the upper surface, apparently in a chewed pit, and covered with excrement. The larva’s dark, threadlike frass is deposited in a dense elliptical mass adjacent to the egg (Fig. 57). Presumably pupation takes place within this mass, as with M. excavata and M. xerene on other hosts.