Parornix inusitatumella is a moth

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 Québec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (Kentucky, Ohio, Maine and Michigan).

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 Crataegus

Crataegus

Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...

species (including Crataegus calpodendron

Crataegus calpodendron

Crataegus calpodendron is a species of hawthorn native to much of the eastern US and to Ontario, Canada. The common name late hawthorn refers to the flowering time, which is later than most North American hawthorns.-References and external links:...

, Crataegus mollis

Crataegus mollis

Crataegus mollis, known as Downy Hawthorn or Red Hawthorn, occurs in eastern North America from southeastern North Dakota east to Nova Scotia and southwest to eastern Texas. This tree inhabits wooded bottomlands, the prairie border, and the midwest savanna understorey.This tree grows to 10–13 m...

, Crataegus parvifolia and Crataegus tomentosa). 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 a large, white, tentiform mine on the leaf upperside. It is almost circular and specked with 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...

. When completed the leaf is rolled upwards.