Aristaea bathracma

Aristaea bathracma is a species of moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from China, Thailand, Japan (Honshū), the Russian Far East, Mozambique, South Africa, Réunion and Uganda.[2]

Aristaea bathracma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Aristaea
Species:	A. bathracma
Binomial name
Aristaea bathracma (Meyrick, 1912)[1]
Synonyms
Parectopa bathracma Meyrick, 1912 Aristaea asteris Kumata, 1977

The wingspan is 7.2-8.8 mm.

The larvae feed on Aster ageratoides. They mine the leaves of their host plant. There are four instars. The mine starts as a rather broad linear mine which usually runs along the middle vein or leaf-margin. A short time after, it broadens the linear mine into a blotch. In these stages the mine occupies a thin layer just above the lower epidermis of the leaf and is whitish-green in colour. In the third and fourth instars, the larva feeds on the upper layers of the tissue within the blotch-mine made during the preceding instar. At the same time, it wrinkles up the lower epidermis of the leaf to form a tentiform mine. After the consumption of the tissues within the mine, the larva leaves the mine through a round exit hole to form a cocoon. The cocoon is usually found on either upper or lower surface at the middle vein near apex of the leaf, whitish, and boat-shaped.[3]

References

1. Afrotropical Gracillariidae Archived March 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
2. Global Taxonomic Database of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera)
3. On The Japanese Species Of The Genera Macarostola, Aristaea And Systoloneura, With Descriptions Of Three New Species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)