Euspilapteryx auroguttella

Euspilapteryx auroguttella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Gracillariidae
Genus: Euspilapteryx
Species: E. auroguttella
Binomial name
Euspilapteryx auroguttella
Stephens, 1835[1]
Synonyms
  • Eucalybites auroguttella (Stephens, 1835)

Euspilapteryx auroguttella is a moth of the Gracillariidae family. It is known from all of Europe.

A sprig of Hypericum with leaves mined and rolled into cones
Larva

The wingspan is 9–10 mm. Adults are on wing in May and August in two generations.[2]

The larvae feed on Hypericum adenotrichum, Hypericum elegans, Hypericum hircinum, Hypericum hirsutum, Hypericum humifusum, Hypericum maculatum, Hypericum montanum, Hypericum olympicum, Hypericum perforatum, Hypericum rhodoppeum and Hypericum tetrapterum. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a lower-surface epidermal corridor. The last section is widened into a blotch. Only then the larva begins to consume parenchymatous tissue and to line the inside of the mine with silk. The leaf folds itself around the mine. The frass is depsosited in a clump in a corner of the mine. Older larvae leave the mine and live freely in a leaf tip that has been folded downwards.[3]

References