Cameraria caryaefoliella
Encyclopedia
Cameraria caryaefoliella is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family. It is known from Quebec
and the United States
(including Georgia, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Pennsylvania).
The wingspan
is 6–7 mm. Adults are small and have reddish-orange forewings with three silvery-white bands. There are three generations per year.
The larva
e feed on Carya species (including Carya cordiformis, Carya glabra, Carya illinoinensis, Carya ovata and Carya tomentosa) and Juglans species (including Juglans cinerea and Juglans nigra). They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of an irregular, white blotch mine on the upperside of the leaf. Some are as large as 12–13 mm in diameter. The young larva is a sap feeder (on juices from the underlying cells that contain chlorophyll) during the first instar and forms a flat, epidermal, linear, pale green mine that is hardly noticeable. This linear mine gradually widens into a blotch mine and becomes more noticeable as the larvae change from sap feeders to tissue feeders. At this time, mines may appear as light-to-dark brown blisters on leaflets. Fresh mines are sometimes whitish and very noticeable. They are often referred to as frog eye. Blotch mines near the leaf edge are often a little drawn or puckered and thus tent-like in appearance.
Larvae pupate in flat, oval cocoons of densely woven silk within the upper blotch mine. The pupa wriggles free of the cocoon and breaks through the upper leaf surface.
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 Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(including Georgia, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Pennsylvania).
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 6–7 mm. Adults are small and have reddish-orange forewings with three silvery-white bands. There are three generations per year.
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 Carya species (including Carya cordiformis, Carya glabra, Carya illinoinensis, Carya ovata and Carya tomentosa) and Juglans species (including Juglans cinerea and Juglans nigra). 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 an irregular, white blotch mine on the upperside of the leaf. Some are as large as 12–13 mm in diameter. The young larva is a sap feeder (on juices from the underlying cells that contain chlorophyll) during the first instar and forms a flat, epidermal, linear, pale green mine that is hardly noticeable. This linear mine gradually widens into a blotch mine and becomes more noticeable as the larvae change from sap feeders to tissue feeders. At this time, mines may appear as light-to-dark brown blisters on leaflets. Fresh mines are sometimes whitish and very noticeable. They are often referred to as frog eye. Blotch mines near the leaf edge are often a little drawn or puckered and thus tent-like in appearance.
Larvae pupate in flat, oval cocoons of densely woven silk within the upper blotch mine. The pupa wriggles free of the cocoon and breaks through the upper leaf surface.