Abstract

Species of Phyllocnistis Zeller (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) mining leaves of plants in the family Vitaceae are reviewed worldwide, including descriptions and illustrations of adults and leaf mines. Host plant and parasitoid records, distribution data, and DNA barcoding data are summarized for each species, with many new records provided. Four species are native to North America: P. vitegenella Clemens is transcontinental, but rare in the West; P. vitifoliella Chambers and P. ampelopsiella Chambers are strictly eastern; and P. occidentalis Eiseman and van Nieukerken, new species, is strictly western. Tree of these—P. vitegenella, P. vitifoliella, and P. occidentalis—are commonly found on Vitis L. Tey have been confused in recent decades, and due to a mistaken belief that they are synonymous, the species that has been spreading across Europe since the 1990s was misidentifed as P. vitegenella, but it is in fact P. vitifoliella. Te four North American species are best distinguished from one another by leaf mine characteristics and DNA barcodes. Te four putative Asian species are P. toparcha Meyrick (India, Japan), P. temperatior Meyrick (Indonesia), P. vitella Ermolaev (Russian Far East), and an unnamed species on Ampelopsis Michx. (Japan, Taiwan). More DNA barcoding data will be needed to clarify their statuses. Leaf mines found on Rhoicissus Planch. in South Africa and on Cissus L. in Gabon indicate that at least two undescribed species are present in Africa. Another undescribed species has been reared from Apocissus Jackes and Trias-Blasi in Australia.