Dibolia melampyri Parry

(Figs. 93–94, 161)

Reared specimens. MASSACHUSETTS: Franklin Co., Northfield, Crag Mountain, 15.vii.2017, em. 3–5.viii.2017, C.S. Eiseman, ex Melampyrum lineare, # CSE4061 (2 adults, MLBM) .

Collected specimens. MASSACHUSETTS: Franklin Co., Montague, Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area, 8.vi.2017, C.S. Eiseman, on Melampyrum lineare, # CSE3804 (2 adults, MLBM) .

Other collected mines. MASSACHUSETTS: Franklin Co., Montague, Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area, 25.vi.2016, C.S. Eiseman, Melampyrum lineare .

Photographed mines. CONNECTICUT: Litchfield Co ., Norfolk, Aton Forest, 26.vii.2022, C.S. Eiseman, Melampyrum lineare [vacated] (iNat 144192224, 144192399) ; MICHIGAN: Mason Co., Nordhouse Dunes, 29.vi.2018, C.S. Eiseman, Melampyrum lineare [larvae] (iNat 203354762) ; PENNSYLVANIA: Centre Co., 40.916431, -78.061678, 5.vii.2021, jmole, Melampyrum lineare [larvae] (iNat 85865969) ; RHODE ISLAND: Washington Co., Charlestown, Francis C. Carter Memorial Preserve, 2.vii.2020, C.S. Eiseman, Melampyrum lineare [vacated] (iNat 51868348) .

Host. Orobanchaceae: Melampyrum lineare Lam.

Biology. Larvae mine leaves of Melampyrum lineare, but no further details have been recorded previously (Parry 1974). The yellowish egg is embedded in the upper leaf surface at the apex of the leaf, and the larva begins mining from this point, forming a narrow, contorted channel that undulates between the two leaf margins (Figs. 93–94). Frass is deposited in a trail of irregular particles that meanders from one side of the mine to the other. When a larva moves to a new leaf, it chews a slit in the upper epidermis near the apex, then forms a full-depth, blotchier mine with sparsely scattered frass particles. The larva is yellow with a dark head and prothoracic plate; the latter has a narrow, yellow mid-dorsal line.

Parasitoid. An adult Pnigalio Schrank ( Eulophidae) emerged on 9 July from the 2016 collection (CSE2726, BMNH).

Notes. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania are new state records for Dibolia melampyri, the only previous US records being Michigan and New York (Riley et al. 2003).