Mexican jumping bean moth
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''Cydia saltitans'' or jumping bean moth is a moth from Mexico that is most widely known as its larva, where it inhabits the carpels of seeds from several related shrubby trees, mainly ''
Sebastiania pavoniana ''Sebastiania pavoniana'' is a species of tree in the spurge family native to Mexico and northwest Costa Rica. It is the 'bean' part of the Mexican jumping bean, despite not being a legume like true beans. The 'jumping' is provided by the larv ...
'' or ''
Sapium biloculare ''Sapium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across most of Latin America and the West Indies. Many Old World species were formerly included in the genus, but recent authors have redistributed all the O ...
'' (
syn. The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnae ...
'' Pleradenophora bilocularis''). These seeds are commonly known as Mexican jumping beans. The moth lays the egg on the young capsule. The hatched larva gnaws into the fruit, which closes the minute hole during its growth. The larva attaches itself to the capsule with many silken threads by hooks on its anal and four hind abdominal prolegs. When the fruit is warmed, for instance by being held in the palm of the hand, the larva twitches, pulling on the threads and causing the characteristic hop. "Jump" is often an exaggeration, but the beans nonetheless do move around quite a bit. The larva may live for months inside the fruit with periods of inactivity. It eats away the seed inside the capsule, making a hollow for itself. If the fruit is cut, the larva will repair the hole with silk. If the larva has suitable conditions such as moisture, it will live long enough to go into a pupal stage. In preparation for this, it eats a circular hole through the shell and closes it again with a silken plug. This is to enable the jawless adult moth to escape from the fruit. After completion of the exit hole it spins a cocoon within the fruit, with a passageway leading to the opening. During the following pupal stage the larva will not move any more. Normally in the spring, the moth will force its way out of what remains of the fruit, through the round "trapdoor", leaving behind the pupal casing. The small, jawless silver and gray-colored moth will live for only a few days.


Nomenclature

In most of the historical literature prior to 2020, the name of this species is given as ''deshaisiana'' and attributed to Lucas, 1858. However, careful examination of the source literature revealed that Lucas' name has never been available (a ''
nomen nudum In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'' under 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 ...
rules), and also that Westwood's original name, ''Carpocapsa saltitans'', had evidently been introduced earlier in that same year (Westwood's first appeared in July 1858 and Lucas' in November). Westwood coined the name using elements referring to the behavior; ''carpo'' and ''capsa'' indicating that it lives within a seed (see podocarp), and ''saltitans'' referring to its jumping behavior.


See also

*''
Calindoea trifascialis ''Calindoea'' is a genus of moths belonging to the family Thyrididae The Thyrididae comprise the family of picture-winged leaf moths. They are the only family in the superfamily Thyridoidea, which sometimes has been included in the Pyraloidea, ...
'', a moth that jumps inside a rolled up leaf 'sleeping bag' *''
Colliguaja odorifera ''Colliguaja odorifera'' is a lignotuberous species of the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Occurrence is in portions of South America, specifically in the Chilean Matorral, Chilean matorral, where it can be found on both south and north-f ...
'', a related jumping seed plant *''
Emporia melanobasis ''Emporia melanobasis'' is a species of snout moth in the genus '' Emporia''. It was described by Boris Balinsky in 1991, and is known from South Africa. Jumping beans The larvae pupate inside fruit of ''Spirostachys africana''. Larvae develop ...
'', a moth with similar habits, parasitizing in ''
Spirostachys africana ''Spirostachys africana'' is a medium-sized (about tall) deciduous tree with a straight, clear trunk, occurring in the warmer parts of Southern Africa. Its wood is known as tamboti, tambotie, tambootie or tambuti. It prefers growing in single-s ...
''. *the California jumping gall wasp (''
Neuroterus saltatorius ''Neuroterus'' is a genus of gall wasps that induce galls on oaks in which the wasp larvae live and feed. Some species produce galls that fall off the host plant and 'jump' along the ground due to the movement of the larvae within. ''Neuroteru ...
'') shows similar behavior in
gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
s produced in several oak species, although during the pupal stage. *''
Nanodes tamarisci ''Epidendrum'' , abbreviated Epi in the horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,500 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name (from Greek ''επί, epi'' and ''δένδρο ...
'', acting similarly in the seed of '' Tamarix''. *''
Sapium biloculare ''Sapium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across most of Latin America and the West Indies. Many Old World species were formerly included in the genus, but recent authors have redistributed all the O ...
'' or the Arizona jumping bean, a related plant with jumping seeds *''
Spirostachys africana ''Spirostachys africana'' is a medium-sized (about tall) deciduous tree with a straight, clear trunk, occurring in the warmer parts of Southern Africa. Its wood is known as tamboti, tambotie, tambootie or tambuti. It prefers growing in single-s ...
'', the jumping seed parasitized by ''Emporia melanobasis'' * Tortricidae, the family of moths containing many of the jumping species


References

* (1876). Jumping Seeds and Galls. ''American Naturalist'', Vol. 10(4): 216–218.


External links


Information on Jumping Beans


{{Taxonbar, from=Q2714227 Grapholitini Moths described in 1858 Moths of Central America