Macarostola japonica
| Macarostola japonica | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Gracillariidae |
| Genus: | Macarostola |
| Species: | M. japonica |
| Binomial name | |
| Macarostola japonica Kumata, 1977 | |
Macarostola japonica is a moth of the Gracillariidae family. It is known from Japan (Honshū and Satunan).[1]
The wingspan is 9–10 mm.
The larvae feed on Euscaphis japonica. There are four or five instars. In the first two instars the larvae are of sap-feeding type with a flat head, and in the third to supposed fifth instars they are tissue-feeders, with a round head and a cylindrical body as in usual lepidopterous larvae. The mine starts as a tortuous serpentine mine, which is located inside the lower epidermis of a leaf and is whitish in colour. The second instar larva expands the linear mine to an elongated blotch along the leaf-margin. In this stage the mine occupies the lower layer of spongy parenchyma. The larva of the third instar feeds on the whole parenchymal tissues remaining inside the blotch-mine, then makes it into a tentiform type. After the third moult, the larva leaves the mine through a round hole and migrates to another leaf, which it cuts from the edge towards the midrib. This cut edge is rolled to form a cone on the underside of the leaf, then the larva continues to feed inside the cone. When full-grown the larva leaves the cone to pupate. Pupation takes place at a margin of the same leaf or another one. The cocoon is whitish, boat-shaped, without any bubbles on its upper side.[2]