Liocrobyla paraschista
Encyclopedia
Liocrobyla paraschista is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family. It is known from Fiji
, India
(Bihar and Karnataka) and Japan
(Hokkaidō, Honshū and Kyūshū) and Korea
.
The wingspan
is 6-7 mm. There are three generations per year. The larvae of the first generation occur from the end of June to the beginning of July, and the adults are on wing from the end of July to the beginning of August. The larvae of the second generation are found from the end of August to the middle of September, and produce
adults at the end of September. The larvae of the third generation appear in October. These larvae hibernate in their cocoons. Pupation takes place in May, and the adults appear between the end of May and the beginning of June.
The larva
e feed on Butea monosperma
, Cajanus cajan, Desmodium caudatum
, Desmodium gangeticum
, Desmodium oldhamii, Desmodium podocarpum, Flemingia lineata, Lespedeza cyrtobotrya and Milletia species. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. Young larvae are of the sap-feeding kind. After hatching they mine in the lower epidermis of the leaf. When the larva changes into a tissue-feeder, it feeds in the palisade parenchyma. An oblique pore is made in the lower surface, through which frass
is ejected. The mine has the form of a digitate blotch under the upper epidermis along the midrib or lateral rib. It is pale green or pale greenish brown with a pale brownish patch in the middle.
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. It is known from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Bihar and Karnataka) and 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...
(Hokkaidō, Honshū and Kyūshū) and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
.
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 6-7 mm. There are three generations per year. The larvae of the first generation occur from the end of June to the beginning of July, and the adults are on wing from the end of July to the beginning of August. The larvae of the second generation are found from the end of August to the middle of September, and produce
adults at the end of September. The larvae of the third generation appear in October. These larvae hibernate in their cocoons. Pupation takes place in May, and the adults appear between the end of May and the beginning of June.
The larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e feed on Butea monosperma
Butea monosperma
Butea monosperma is a species of Butea native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and western Indonesia...
, Cajanus cajan, Desmodium caudatum
Desmodium caudatum
Desmodium caudatum is a deciduous nitrogen fixing plant in the Fabaceae family. It is found in India, China and other parts of Asia. The shrub grows to a height of about 1.5 m tall. The leaves and roots of the plant are used as an insecticide....
, Desmodium gangeticum
Desmodium gangeticum
Desmodium gangeticum is plant in the Fabaceae family....
, Desmodium oldhamii, Desmodium podocarpum, Flemingia lineata, Lespedeza cyrtobotrya and Milletia species. 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. Young larvae are of the sap-feeding kind. After hatching they mine in the lower epidermis of the leaf. When the larva changes into a tissue-feeder, it feeds in the palisade parenchyma. An oblique pore is made in the lower surface, through which 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 ejected. The mine has the form of a digitate blotch under the upper epidermis along the midrib or lateral rib. It is pale green or pale greenish brown with a pale brownish patch in the middle.