Phyllonorycter insignis 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 the United States

United States

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

 (California and Maine).

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 about 9 mm.

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 Erechtites

Erechtites

Erechtites is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family known commonly as fireweeds or burnweeds. They are native to the Americas, but some species are widely distributed weeds. Some species in this genus are treated as members of Senecio by some authors, and several other species are...

species and Ceanothus integerrimus

Ceanothus integerrimus

Ceanothus integerrimus is a woody shrub in the family Rhamnaceae, native to the western United States, in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington...

. 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 is found on the underside of the leaf, occupying a comparatively small area in which the leaf substance is almost entirely eaten out. The lower epidermis is closely wrinkled at maturity.