Acrocercops aellomacha
Encyclopedia
Acrocercops aellomacha is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family, known from New Zealand
.
The wingspan
is 7-9 mm.
The hostplants for the species include Nothopanax arboreum, Nothopanax simplex, and Nothopanax sinclairii. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The larva on hatching at once mines into the leaf through the shell of the egg, and as a general rule takes several spiral turns before mining in any definite direction. The mine throughout is a very gradually widening gallery, never becoming blotched, and rarely do portions cross each other except in the smaller leaves. Its direction invariably takes it along both sides of the midrib, this obstacle being crossed in its upper and thinner part. From these long straight portions a varying number of blind arms or branches of varying lengths, mostly straight but sometimes slightly curved, sprout out into the leaf. As a rule the greater number will be confined to one half of the leaf. These blind branches sometimes follow the course of the veins of the leaf, but most often do not, generally treating these as no obstacle. They do not often reach as far as the outer margin of the leaf, but may do so, and may follow it a short distance. These branches are all more or less parallel to one another, and rarely cross. The mine is found only in the younger leaves, and is pale green in colour, the tips of the branches often being white, showing where the larva came close against the upper cuticle. Old mines become white, but otherwise do not discolour the leaf. The frass
is very finely granular.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Gracillariidae
Gracillariidae
Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella....
family, known from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 7-9 mm.
The hostplants for the species include Nothopanax arboreum, Nothopanax simplex, and Nothopanax sinclairii. They mine
Leaf miner
Leaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...
the leaves of their host plant. The larva on hatching at once mines into the leaf through the shell of the egg, and as a general rule takes several spiral turns before mining in any definite direction. The mine throughout is a very gradually widening gallery, never becoming blotched, and rarely do portions cross each other except in the smaller leaves. Its direction invariably takes it along both sides of the midrib, this obstacle being crossed in its upper and thinner part. From these long straight portions a varying number of blind arms or branches of varying lengths, mostly straight but sometimes slightly curved, sprout out into the leaf. As a rule the greater number will be confined to one half of the leaf. These blind branches sometimes follow the course of the veins of the leaf, but most often do not, generally treating these as no obstacle. They do not often reach as far as the outer margin of the leaf, but may do so, and may follow it a short distance. These branches are all more or less parallel to one another, and rarely cross. The mine is found only in the younger leaves, and is pale green in colour, the tips of the branches often being white, showing where the larva came close against the upper cuticle. Old mines become white, but otherwise do not discolour the leaf. The frass
Frass
Frass is the fine powdery material phytophagous insects pass as waste after digesting plant parts. It causes plants to excrete chitinase due to high chitin levels, it is a natural bloom stimulant, and has high nutrient levels. Frass is known to have abundant amoeba, beneficial bacteria, and fungi...
is very finely granular.