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Date of Graduation
5-15-2026
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of Biology
First Advisor
David H. Hembry
Abstract
Leafflowers are a globally distributed group of plants found in the tropics and temperate zones in North America that share an ecological relationship with Epicephala moths. Work done in the Old World tropics reveal a pattern of a mutualistic relationship between the plant and insects and this study aimed to track if there was successful transoceanic colonization of these relationships in the Puerto Rico. Diurnal and nocturnal observations were conducted to track flower visitors for three native species of Phyllanthus: P. epiphyllanthus, P. cuneifolius and P. juglandifolius. Fruit from each species were collected to rear out any larvae and placed in a seed consumption experiment to track origin of seed damage. A subset of larvae collected from seed consumption experiments were used for molecular analysis to infer phylogenies between Neotropical and Old World leafflower moths. The other subset of larvae were reared to adults to check the female moth’s proboscis for evidence of pollination behavior. Phyllanthus epiphyllanthus and P. cuneifolius were found to have an associated Epicephala moth and no evidence for P. juglandifolius of having an associated moth and this was confirmed with flower observations and rearing out fruit. Phyllanthus epiphyllanthus’ symbiotic relationship with its associated moth remains ambiguous as pollination behavior was not observed. Pollination was not observed for P. cuneifolius’ Epicephala moth, but pollen was caught in the proboscis, and morphological analysis confirms presence of sensilla. Phylogenetic analysis infers that Puerto Rican Epicephala are paraphyletic in relation to Epicephala found in Peru but are nested within Old World Epicephala. Leafflower pollination ecology remains understudied and identifying patterns can be used to better understand how brood pollination persists in this system.
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Entomology Commons, Evolution Commons, Integrative Biology Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Plant Biology Commons
