The parsnip moth or parsnip webworm (''Depressaria radiella'') is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family Depressariidae. It is found in most of Europe, except

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and most of the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. This species has also been introduced into

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is . Adults are on wing from August to (after overwintering in a sheltered place) May of the following year. There is one generation per year. The larvae feed on '' Heracleum sphondylium'', ''

Pastinaca sativa The parsnip (''Pastinaca sativa'') is a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, all belonging to the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long taproot has cream-colored skin and ...

'' and ''

Apium nodiflorum ''Helosciadium nodiflorum'' (synonym: ''Apium nodiflorum''), fool's watercress, is a flowering plant found in ditches or streams, as well as fresh and brackish-water wetlands native to western Europe. It is not poisonous to humans but it could be ...

''. They feed on the flowers and developing seeds, defending their territory by enclosing an

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

in silk, while safely metabolizing the ingested furocoumarins. Pupation takes place in the main stem of the food plant.Lepidoptera of Belgium
/ref>

Taxonomy

''Depressaria radiella'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus ''

Depressaria ''Depressaria'' is a moth genus of the superfamily Gelechioidea. It is the type genus of subfamily Depressariinae, which is often – particularly in older treatments – considered a distinct family Depressariidae or included in the Ela ...

''. Its

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

has been much confused for about 200 years. A.H. Haworth, on establishing the genus ''Depressaria'' in his 1811 issues of ''Lepidoptera Britannica'', called the eventual type species ''Phalaena heraclei'', an unjustified

emendation An emendation is an alteration to a term, for a specific technical reason: * Emendation (textual), altering a word to make sense, e.g. when incomplete or assumed to have been copied incorrectly * Emendation (zoology), altering the spelling of the ...

of ''P. (Tortrix) heracliana''. In this he followed such

entomologists Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

of his time as A.J. Retzius, who in 1783 had believed the parsnip moth to be a species originally described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

. But in fact, this was a misidentification; Linnaeus' moth was actually the one known today as '' Agonopterix heracliana''. To make matters worse, J. Curtis popularized another incorrect spelling, ''D. heracleana'', apparently first introduced (as ''Pyralis heracleana'') by J.C. Fabricius in his 1775 ''Systema Entomologiae''.Pitkin & Jenkins (2004) When the error of Retzius, Haworth and others was realized, it was assumed that the parsnip moth was only validly described (as ''Haemilis pastinacella'') by P.A.J. Duponchel in 1838, and consequently it was throughout much of the 20th century known as ''D. pastinacella''. But according to the

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...

's judgement, there already was an older valid description – that of J.A.E. Goeze, who in 1783 named the species ''Phalaena radiella''. Thus, the correct scientific name of the type species is ''D. radiella''.

Distribution

Introduced

''D. pastinacella'' was first known to be present in North America in 1883. This species has also been recorded in New Zealand in January 2004.

Interactions with hosts

Sphondin - a

furanocoumarin The furanocoumarins, or furocoumarins, are a class of organic chemical compounds produced by a variety of plants. Most of the plant species found to contain furanocoumarins belong to a handful of plant families. The families Apiaceae and Rutacea ...

- is a chemical produced by some plants. It deters ''D. pastinacella'' and higher amounts confer even higher host resistance. Over the time of ''D. pastinacellas presence in North America, parsnips (''

'') have evolved steadily higher amounts of sphondin production. This likely indicates

coevolution In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well ...

with ''D. pastinacella''.

References

* (2004)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
&ndash
''Depressaria''
Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2010-APR-24.

External links

lepiforum.de
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q5260879 Depressaria Moths described in 1783 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Johann August Ephraim Goeze