Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFGracillariidae Members:
Leucospilapteryx Members:
25 NC Records

Leucospilapteryx venustella (Clemens, 1860) - No Common Name

Leucospilapteryx venustellaLeucospilapteryx venustella
view caption 		Leucospilapteryx venustella
view caption 		Leucospilapteryx venustella
view caption
Taxonomy
Superfamily: Gracillarioidea Family: GracillariidaeSubfamily: GracillariinaeTribe: [Gracillariini]P3 Number: 33a0419 MONA Number: 698.00
Comments: Leucospilapteryx is a small genus in the family Gracillariidae with only three recognized species. Leucospilapteryx venustella is the only one that occurs in North America.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Beadle and Leckie (2012)Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes, 1923Technical Description, Immature Stages: Diaz et al. (2014)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following is primarily based on the description by Forbes (1923). The head and eye-cap are silvery white, while the labial palp is white with two blackish spots. The antenna is dark brown. The forewing has a dark brown to brownish black ground color. There is a well-defined white streak that extends along the inner margin from the base to about half way to the apex. The costa has a small white costal spot at about one-fourth. This is followed by three ragged-edged, white streaks that are roughly equidistant. The first two are oblique posteriorly, straight, and run parallel to each other. They sometimes continue as a faint broken or fragmented streak that reaches well beyond the mid-point of the wing. The third is weakly oblique posteriorly and more curved. The cilia has a white patch with a dark margin, and contains a black dot. The fringe is mouse gray and mixed with white. The front and middle legs are brownish black except for the tarsi, which are whitish with fine black spots near the joints. The rear legs are white with brownish black bands. Individuals posture with the front legs raised, much like Acrocercops or Caloptilia species. Leucospilapteryx venustella is superficially similar to Acrocercops astericola, but the latter lacks a well-defined white streak that extends along the inner margin from the base to near the first dorsal blotch.
Wingspan: 8 mm (Forbes, 1923).
Forewing Length: 4.2 ± 0.2 mm (Diaz et al., 2014).
Adult Structural Features: The male and female genitalia are illustrated in Diaz et al. (2014).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The hatchling initially produces a narrow, whitish linear track that enlarges into an underside tentiform blotch with wrinkles. The frass is often collected in a ball and the off-white larva eventually turns bright red at the termination of feeding. The larva eventually leaves the mine and spins a flat, white, oblong cocoon in a leaf fold or on the ground (Diaz et al., 2014; Eiseman, 2019). The mines are highly variable in shape and size depending on the host plant, and there are often more than one on a single leaf.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Leucospilapteryx venustella is found in eastern North America, including Ontario, Quebec, and much of the eastern U.S. In the U.S, the range extends from the northeastern states westward to Minnesota, and southward to as far as Florida and eastern Texas. This species occurs statewide in North Carolina.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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