PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 108(4). 2006, pp. 899-904 A NEW SPECIES OF COCHYLIS (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE: COCHYLINI) FROM ARGENTINA: A POTENTIAL BIOCONTROL AGENT AGAINST POMPOM WEED (ASTERACEAE) John W. Brown Systematic Entomology Laboratory, PSL Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, c/o National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013-7012, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — Cochylis campuloclinium, new species, is described and illustrated from Argentina. The new species was discovered during efforts to find biological control agents against pompom weed, Ccwipidoclinium nmcrocephalum (Less.) D.C. (Asteraceae), a perennial of the New World tropics that recently has invaded South Africa. The new species is similar to C argentinana Razowski but can be distinguished by the shape of the sacculus in the male genitalia: a hooked-shaped process in C canipu/oc/iniuni, a broad, distally excavated plate in C. argentinana. Key Words: Neotropics, South Africa, morphology, invasive species, Campulocli-niwn macrocephalwn Pompom weed, Campuloclinium mac-rocephahmi (Less.) D.C. (Asteraceae), is a perennial aster of the New World tropics that recently invaded South Africa and is showing evidence of becoming one of the most aggressive alien plants in that country (Malherbe 2004). It colonizes disturbed sites such as roadsides and has the potential to invade native grasslands and wetlands, displac-ing pasture vegetation. It presumably was introduced into South Africa as an ornamental plant in the early 1970s. During foreign exploration in Argen-tina for potential biological control agents of pompom weed, a tortricid moth (Cochylini) was reared from larvae infesting this plant. The majority of cochylines feed on Asteraceae, but host fidelity at the species-or generic-level has not been studied for most. Although the potential of this moth to provide effec-tive control of the weed has not been determined yet, I take this opportunity to describe and illustrate this new spe-cies. Dissection methodology follows that presented in Brown and Powell (1991). Images of adults and genitalia were captured using a Microptics digital camera system and enhanced using Ado-be Photoshop® and Illustrator® software. Terminology for genitalic structures fol-lows Horak (1984). Abbreviations for depositories of specimens are as follows: SANC = South African National Collec-tion of Insects, Cape Town, South Africa; and USNM = National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. Cochylis cantpulocUnium Brown, new species (Figs. 1, 3, 5, 7) Diagnosis. — In contrast to the situa-tion in most tortricids where adult facies
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