Native
Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Tortricidae: Olethreutinae: Eucosmini)
Common name: bayberry leaftier moth
Synonyms: imminens (Spilonota), indentanus (Phthinolophus)
FWL: 4.5-6.0 mm
Head, thorax various shades of gray; male antenna with distinct dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back 
notch near base; forewing with ground color brown to dark brown; longitudinal black streak present from end of discal cell to apexapex:
the point furthest removed from the base or at the end of the costal area 
; sinuous, ashy gray band present along entire inner margininner margin:
see dorsum 
, widening gradually towards tornustornus:
the junction of the termen and dorsum of the wing 
, bordering brown ocellusocellus:
forewing pattern element - an ovoid region anterior to the tornus; adult head - a simple insect "eye" located dorsal to the compound eye 
; male forewing with costal fold; hindwing brown.
Male genitalia are characterized by an obsolete uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX
; small sociisocii:
a pair of lightly sclerotized setose lobes
; valvae moderate, without constriction of the neck and with two thorn-like extensions on the ventrodistal margin. Female genitalia characterized by a broad, cylindrical sterigmasterigma:
the sclerotized region surrounding the female ostium bursae 
and corpus bursaecorpus bursae:
a dilated membranous sac at the anterior end of the bursa copulatrix
finely scobinatescobinate:
rasplike
, without signumsignum:
a sclerotized projection or patch on the interior of the corpus bursae
.
The following account is summarized from MacKay (1959)MacKay (1959):
MacKay, M. R. 1959. Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 10: 1-338. and Canacuán-Nasamuez & Carabalí-Muñoz (2015).
Mature larva 11-14 mm in length; width of head 0.9-1.0 mm; head pale yellowish, with darker pigmentation laterally; prothoracic shieldprothoracic shield:
a sclerotized plate on the dorsal surface of the prothorax 
, legs pale; anal shieldanal shield:
a sclerotized plate on the dorsal surface of the last abdominal segment (in larvae) 
pale, but occasionally with brown pigmentation on laterallateral:
to the side
margins; body pale, faintly striped; anal fork present, well-developed; SV group on A1, 2, 7, 8, 9 always 3:3:2:2:2.
Detailed figures of larval chaetotaxychaetotaxy:
the arrangement of setae (in reference to Lepidoptera larvae), often depicted on a "setal map"
are available in MacKay (1959)MacKay (1959):
MacKay, M. R. 1959. Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 10: 1-338..
Pupa 5.0-7.1 mm in length; caramel brown initially before turning darker brown with age.
The forewing pattern and notched male antenna should serve to separate Strepsicrates smithiana from most species of Eucosmini except S. transfixa (Australia) and S. tetropsis (South America). The latter may prove to be a synonym of S. smithiana. Other members of the Spilonota-group of genera can appear superficially similar but genitalia should readily separate them (Horak 2006Horak 2006:
Horak, M. 2006. Olethreutine moths of Australia (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, Vol. 10. 522 pp.).
The following account is summarized from Canacuán-Nasamuez & Carabalí-Muñoz (2015).
Under laboratory conditions, females lay flattened, translucent eggs singly on the underside of leaves and shoots of the host plant. Larvae hatch between four and six days later. First and second instar larvae feed primarily by skeletonizing small patches of the leaf. Third, fourth, and fifth instars feed between tied leaves. Complete development from first instar to pupa takes approximately 20-26 days. Pupation occurs between tied leaves or in a folded margin of a single leaf. Adults eclose 8-12 days later. In tropical and subtropical areas, adults can be found year-round, but the flight season is restricted from May to August further north.
Strepsicrates smithiana feeds on plants in the families Myricaceae and Myrtaceae. It is best known as a pest of guava (Psidium guajava).
| Host plant | Host plant family | Reference(s) |
| Morella caroliniensis | Myricaceae | MacKay 1959MacKay 1959: MacKay, M. R. 1959. Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 10: 1-338. |
| Morella cerifera | Myricaceae | Heinrich 1923bHeinrich 1923b: Heinrich, C. 1923b. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 123: 1-298.; Kimball 1965Kimball 1965: Kimball, C. P. 1965. The Lepidoptera of Florida: an annotated checklist. In : Arthropods of Florida and neighboring land areas, vol. 1. Florida Department of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville. 363 pp.; Zimmerman 1978Zimmerman 1978: Zimmerman, E. C. 1978. Insects of Hawaii, Volume 9, Microlepidoptera, Part 1. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 881 pp.; USNM collectionUSNM collection: USNM collection. Based on identified reared specimens in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. |
| Morella faya | Myricaceae | Zimmerman 1978Zimmerman 1978: Zimmerman, E. C. 1978. Insects of Hawaii, Volume 9, Microlepidoptera, Part 1. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 881 pp. |
| Myrica sp. | Myricaceae | Kimball & Jones 1943; Kimball 1965Kimball 1965: Kimball, C. P. 1965. The Lepidoptera of Florida: an annotated checklist. In : Arthropods of Florida and neighboring land areas, vol. 1. Florida Department of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville. 363 pp.; MacKay 1959MacKay 1959: MacKay, M. R. 1959. Larvae of the North American Olethreutidae (Lepidoptera). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 10: 1-338. |
| Eugenia buxifolia | Myrtaceae | Powell 2006Powell 2006: Powell, J. A. 2006. Database of Lepidoptera rearing lots, 1960-2005. University of California Berkeley, CA. |
| Eugenia sp. | Myrtaceae | Heinrich 1923bHeinrich 1923b: Heinrich, C. 1923b. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 123: 1-298.; Kimball 1965Kimball 1965: Kimball, C. P. 1965. The Lepidoptera of Florida: an annotated checklist. In : Arthropods of Florida and neighboring land areas, vol. 1. Florida Department of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville. 363 pp. |
| Myrcia splendens | Myrtaceae | USNM collectionUSNM collection: USNM collection. Based on identified reared specimens in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. |
| Myrica pavonis | Myrtaceae | Vargas 2012Vargas 2012: Vargas, H.A. 2012. Strepsicrates smithiana Walsingham (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae): first record from Chile and a newly documented host plant. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 56(3): 381–382. |
| Psidium cattleyanum | Myrtaceae | Diez-Rodríguez et al. 2016 |
| Psidium guajava | Myrtaceae | Kimbal 1965; Zimmerman 1978Zimmerman 1978: Zimmerman, E. C. 1978. Insects of Hawaii, Volume 9, Microlepidoptera, Part 1. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 881 pp.; USNM collectionUSNM collection: USNM collection. Based on identified reared specimens in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. |
View full screen host table here
Strepsicrates smithiana is distributed in the southeastern United States from Texas to Tennessee and Georgia and north along the Atlantic coast as far north as Maine. It is widespread in the Caribbean, with records from Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Vincent. It is also known from Bermuda, the Galápagos Islands, Colombia, and Chile, where it is unclear whether or not it is native. It has been introduced to the Hawaiian Islands as a biological control agent of Myrica spp.
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