Endemic moth species of the genus Wiseana spp. (Hepialidae) have become serious pests of introduced pasture plants in New Zealand. The original native host plants of these moths have not been confirmed. This study investigated the performance (survival, development time, weight gain) of three Wiseana species on seven putative host plants: five native and two exotic species. The aim was to identify native hosts for the three Wiseana species and to compare their performance on native plants and exotic pasture plants. The chemical composition of the seven putative host plants was investigated to compare native and exotic plant chemistries, and to test for associations between plant characteristics and performance of selected Wiseana species. Carbon, nitrogen, silica and fibre contents were measured for each plant species; primary metabolite composition was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. For the three moth species, increased survival and weight gain were significantly associated with high nitrogen and low fibre contents in one exotic host plant, white clover (Trifolium repens), although one species, W. umbraculata, did not complete development to adult on any of the plants tested, including clover. Two exotic plants (T. repens, Lolium perenne × Lolium multiflorum), and two native plants (Aciphylla squarrosa and Festuca actae) supported W. copularis development to the adult stage, but only one exotic (T. repens) and one native (F. actae) species supported complete development of W. cervinata. Exotic and native plant species had distinct metabolite profiles, but there was no significant association between metabolite composition and Wiseana performance. We conclude that W. copularis and W. cervinata, but not W. umbraculata, have expanded their host range, because of their ability to use both native and new hosts. No evidence was found for a host shift, i.e., a loss of performance on the ancestral host compared with the new host.

中文翻译：

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地方性草食动物的宿主范围扩展与异国牧场植物中的高氮和低纤维含量有关。

Wiseana spp属的特有蛾类。（Hepialidae）已成为新西兰引入的牧场植物的严重害虫。这些飞蛾的原始原生寄主植物尚未得到证实。这项研究调查了三种Wiseana物种在7种推定的寄主植物上的表现（存活率，发育时间，体重增加）：5种本土植物和2种外来物种。目的是确定三种Wiseana物种的本地寄主，并比较它们在本地植物和外来牧场植物上的表现。研究了七种推定寄主植物的化学成分，以比较本地和外来植物的化学性质，并测试选定的Wiseana的植物特性与性能之间的关联种类。测量每种植物的碳，氮，二氧化硅和纤维含量。初级代谢物组成通过气相色谱-质谱法测定。对于这三种蛾类，尽管其中一种W. umbraculata不能完全发育成成虫，但在一种外来寄主植物白三叶（Trifolium repens）中，提高的存活率和增重与高氮和低纤维含量显着相关。测试的植物，包括三叶草。两个外来植物（牛逼。白三叶，黑麦草 × 黑麦草），和两个原生植物（刺刀草属草和高羊actae）支持W. copularis发展到成年阶段，但只有一个异国情调（牛逼。三叶草）和一个原生（F. actae）种支持的完整的开发W. cervinata。外来和本地植物物种具有不同的代谢产物谱，但代谢产物组成与Wiseana性能之间没有显着关联。我们得出的结论是W. copularis和W. cervinata，但不是W .。umbraculata扩展了其宿主范围，因为它们既可以使用本机宿主也可以使用新宿主。没有发现宿主移位的证据，即与新宿主相比，祖先宿主的性能下降。