Anisostena californica Van Dyke

(Figs. 1, 23, 122)

Reared specimens. CALIFORNIA: Plumas Co., Cow Creek, SW of Lake Davis, 39.898758, -120.559367, 21.vii.2023, em. 3.viii.2023, C.S. Eiseman, ex Bromus, # CSE8351 (1 adult, MLBM); S of Lake Davis, Plumas National Forest, 39.874864, -120.50205, 20.vii.2023, em. 27–30.vii.2023, C.S. & A.B. Eiseman & J.A. Blyth, ex Bromus, # CSE8325 (1 adult, MLBM); Sierra Co., Rte. 89, 39.447719, -120.215386, 21.vii.2023, em. 6–7.viii.2023, C.S. Eiseman, ex Elymus elymoides, # CSE8379 (1 adult, MLBM) ; OREGON, Lane Co., Blue River, 20.vii.2017, em. by 2.viii.2017, M.W. Palmer, ex Elymus glaucus, # CSE4264 (1 adult, MLBM) .

Hosts. * Poaceae: Bromus L., Elymus elymoides (Raf.) Swezey, E. glaucus Buckley. There are no prior rearing records for Anisostena californica; part of the type series was collected “on a species of reedy grass in the wet meadows on the floor of the Yosemite Valley, California ” (Van Dyke 1925), and adults have been swept from “mixed grasses” in Idaho (Horning & Barr 1970).

Biology. The egg is deposited in an excavation chewed in either leaf surface, adjacent to the leaf margin or away from it, 6–32 mm from the apex, and sometimes covered with dark brown excrement (Fig. 1). The mine is full-depth, with elongate fecal pellets scattered throughout (Fig. 23). One mine on Bromus extended 64 mm from the apex, occupying the full width of the 5 mm-wide leaf. Three preserved mines on Elymus glaucus measure 80–95 mm from the leaf apex, occupying the full width of the leaf for the apical 65–90 mm.

Parasitoids. Six Neochrysocharis adults ( Eulophidae) emerged from one of the larvae mining a leaf of Elymus elymoides (CSE8345, CNC / iNat 202984178).