Parectopa bumeliella is a moth

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 Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 and Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, U.S.A

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was described by A.F. Braun in 1939.

The hostplants for the species include Sideroxylon lanuginosum

Sideroxylon lanuginosum

Sideroxylon lanuginosum is a shrub or small tree of the family Sapotaceae. It is native to the Sun Belt and Midwest of the United States as well as Northeastern Mexico...

and Sideroxylon lycioides

Sideroxylon lycioides

The Buckthorn Bully is a small tree in the family Sapotaceae. It is widely distributed in the southeastern United States from Texas to New Jersey....

. 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 wide upperside linear mine expanding into a white blotch, usually obliterating the early mine. The blotch is roughly oval in outline.