Phyllonorycter kumatai
Encyclopedia
Phyllonorycter kumatai is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family. It is known from the Nepal
.
The wingspan
is 6-6.5 mm.
The larva
e feed on Prunus cerasoides
. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of an elongate, narrow, tentiformed occurring upon the lower surface of the leaf, usually situated on the space between two lateral veins or rarely along the leaf-margin. The lower epidermis of the leaf on a fully developed mine is brownish-white with minute dark brown spots and with a single longitudinal central ridge.
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 Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
.
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 6-6.5 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 Prunus cerasoides
Prunus cerasoides
Prunus cerasoides is a deciduous cherry tree found in East Asia. It is of the family Rosaceae and the genus Prunus. Its range extends in the Himalayas from Himachal Pradesh in India to southwest China and Burma. It grows in the forests from 1200 to 2400 metres above sea level.-Description:P...
. 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 elongate, narrow, tentiformed occurring upon the lower surface of the leaf, usually situated on the space between two lateral veins or rarely along the leaf-margin. The lower epidermis of the leaf on a fully developed mine is brownish-white with minute dark brown spots and with a single longitudinal central ridge.