Leucoptera puerariella
Encyclopedia
Leucoptera puerariella is a moth
in the Lyonetiidae
family. It is known from Japan
(Honshu, Kyushu).
The wingspan
is 4-5 mm. Adults are on wing from the end of July and again from May. There are two to three generations per year.
The larvae feed on Pueraria lobata. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of an upper surface irregular blotch expanding along the
leaf margin or vein. It is pale greenish-brown. One to three mines are found on a single leaf. Full-grown larvae leave the mine and make a spindle-shaped white cocoon covered by a flattened thin silken web at the leaf margin.
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...
in the Lyonetiidae
Lyonetiidae
Lyonetiidae is a family of moths. These are small, slender moths, the wingspan rarely exceeding 1 cm. The very narrow forewings, held folded backwards covering the hindwings and abdomen, often have pointed apices noticeably up- or down-turned. The larvae are leaf miners.The families Bucculatricidae...
family. It is known from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(Honshu, Kyushu).
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 4-5 mm. Adults are on wing from the end of July and again from May. There are two to three generations per year.
The larvae feed on Pueraria lobata. 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 mine has the form of an upper surface irregular blotch expanding along the
leaf margin or vein. It is pale greenish-brown. One to three mines are found on a single leaf. Full-grown larvae leave the mine and make a spindle-shaped white cocoon covered by a flattened thin silken web at the leaf margin.