Acrocercops ficina
Encyclopedia
Acrocercops ficina is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family. It is known from South Africa
and Namibia
.
The larva
e feed on Ficus hippopotami, Ficus natalensis
and Ficus trichopoda. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a moderate, irregular, whitish, epidermal blotch-mine on the upperside of the leaf.
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 South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
.
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 Ficus hippopotami, Ficus natalensis
Ficus natalensis
Ficus natalensis is a tree in the Moraceae family. It is commonly known as the Natal Fig. These trees are distributed from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa to east Africa.- References :...
and Ficus trichopoda. 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 a moderate, irregular, whitish, epidermal blotch-mine on the upperside of the leaf.