Page 291 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Lyonetiidae
DIS
DISTRIBUTION Florida and adjacent areas of southeast United States
TRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT
HABITAT T Open areas, such as forest edges and upland pine
A
HABIT
HOS T PLANT S Coral Bean (Erythrina herbacea)
HOST PLANTS
HOST PLANTS
NOTE
NOTE
NO TE Minute caterpillar that lives within a leaf until pupation
CONSERV A TION S T A TUS Not evaluated, but common where host plant is present
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERVATION STATUS
ADULT WINGSPAN
⁄ –⅛ in (2–3 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
⅛– ⁄ in (3–4 mm)
LEUCOPTERA ERYTHRINELLA
ERYTHRINA LEAFMINER 289

BUSCK, 1900

The eggs of the Erythrina Leafminer, one of the smallest moth
species, are only about ten times the size of leaf epidermal cells.
The caterpillar feeds inside the leaf, consuming the mesophyll
but not making holes in the leaf epidermis until it is ready to
pupate; the leaf discoloration its feeding causes can be mistaken
for disease. In each leaf, there is usually a single larva, and one Actual size

leaf seems to be su cient for its entire development. Before
pupation, the larva emerges to the ventral surface of the leaf
and spins a silk structure resembling a miniature hammock.
Then it makes a cocoon beneath it, from which it emerges about
two weeks later.

Despite their tiny size, the moths are sexually dimorphic and
fully functional. The adult does not appear to venture far The Erythrina Leafminer caterpillar has
from the host plant and, when ying, looks like a white y or ten prolegs. The head is cream colored and

sclerotized, but the caterpillar is otherwise
a snowflake. The genus Erythrinella includes more than colorless, translucent white with very
60 species; some are agricultural pests, but this species is of pronounced, bulging segments, super cially
resembling the larva of a beetle or a y.
marginal economic importance. Although concealed until pupation, its outline
can be seen in the mines if a leaf is held in
front of a light source.