Phyllonorycter salicifoliella
Encyclopedia
Phyllonorycter salicifoliella 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 widespread across North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 to Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in the east and from southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to northern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in the west.

The length of the forewings is 3-4 mm. Adults are on wing from July to mid August
And again from late August to November in two generations.

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 mostly feed on Salix species, including Salix alba, Salix amygdaloides, Salix babylonica, Salix bebbiana
Salix bebbiana
Salix bebbiana is a species of Willow that is indigenous to Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska and Yukon south to California and Arizona and north-east to Newfoundland and New England...

, Salix bonplandiana
Salix bonplandiana
Salix bonplandiana , , is a perennial species of willow tree native to southern and southwest Mexico and extending into central Guatemala; in western Mexico it is a tree of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, but also occurring in other small locales, for example Baja California Sur, northern...

, Salix caroliniana
Salix caroliniana
Salix caroliniana, commonly known as the coastal plain willow, is a shrub or small tree native to the southeastern United States, Mexico and parts of Central America and the Caribbean. It is an obligate wetland species and grows as an emergent species in the Everglades. In the absence of fire, S....

, Salix eriocephala, Salix lasiolepis
Salix lasiolepis
Salix lasiolepis is a species of willow native to western and southwestern North America, in the United States from central and southern Washington and southwestern Idaho south to California and Texas, and in Mexico from the Baja California peninsula east to Coahuila and south to Jalisco. The name...

, Salix "longifolia", Salix lutea
Salix lutea
Salix lutea is a species of willow known by the common name yellow willow. It is native to North America, including central Canada and parts of the western and central United States, with the exception of the Great Basin. It can be found in moist and wet habitat types, such as riverbanks, meadows,...

, Salix monticola, Salix purpurea, Salix x rubens (Salix alba x Salix fragilis), Salix scouleriana
Salix scouleriana
Salix scouleriana Salix scouleriana Salix scouleriana (Scouler's Willow; syn. S. brachystachys Benth., S. capreoides Anderss., S. flavescens Nutt., S. nuttallii Sarg., S...

and Salix sericea
Salix sericea
Salix sericea, also known as silky willow, is a shrub in the Salicaceae family that grows in swamps and along rivers in eastern United States and Canada...

, but may also feed on Populus species, including Populus balsamifera
Populus balsamifera
Populus balsamifera, commonly called balsam poplar, bamtree, eastern balsam poplar, hackmatack, tacamahac poplar, tacamahaca,...

and Populus tremuloides
Populus tremuloides
Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, and Quakies,. The trees have tall trunks, up to 25 metres, with smooth pale bark, scarred with black. The glossy green leaves, dull beneath, become golden...

. 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.
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