Chrysoesthia sexguttella

Chrysoesthia sexguttella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gelechiidae
Genus:	Chrysoesthia
Species:	C. sexguttella
Binomial name
	Chrysoesthia sexguttella; (Thunberg, 1794)
Synonyms
	Microsetia sexguttella Thunberg, 1794; Tinea sexguttella; Lita naeviferella Duponchel, 1843; Chrysopora naeviferella; Microsetia aurofasciella Stephens, 1834; Tinea stipella Hübner, 1796; Gelechia stipella var. stipivicinella Bruand, 1859;

Chrysoesthia sexguttella, common name the orache leafminer moth, is a moth in the family Gelechiidae. It is found in all of Europe, east to southern Siberia,^[1] as well as the north-eastern parts of North America, where it might be an introduced species.

Mined Atriplex leaf

The wingspan is 8–10 mm. The head is metallic brassy-grey. Forewings are dark purplish-grey, mixed with black, with some whitish scales ; a yellow subdorsal spot in the middle, and a smaller one in disc posteriorly; an ill-defined ochreous-white tornal spot, and another on costa at 3/4. Hindwings are grey. The larva is yellow-whitish; dorsal line brownish; lateral line of orange -reddish spots; head pale brown; plate of 2 blackish.^[2]

Adults are on the wing from May to June, and again from August to September. There are two generations per year.

The larvae mine the leaves of Atriplex species (including , Atriplex hastata, Atriplex hortensis, Atriplex littoralis, Atriplex prostrata, , Atriplex patula and ), Chenopodium species (including Chenopodium album, Chenopodium bonus-henricus, Chenopodium giganteum, Chenopodium glaucum, , Chenopodium murale, Chenopodium opulifolium, Chenopodium polyspermum, Chenopodium quinoa, and Chenopodium vulvaria), Amaranthus blitum, Amaranthus caudatus, Bassia scoparia and Spinacia. They form a contorted gallery on the surface of the leaves.

Parasitoids[]

is a larval-pupal ectoparasitoid of Chrysoesthia sexguttella. The female of P. gyamiensis lays a single egg on the skin of the host larva or nearby it, without any significant preference for a particular variant. The presence of long hairs on its body provides the newly hatched first larval instar with high mobility.^[3]

Life cycle[]

Larva
Older larva
Pupa with and without cocoon

References[]

^ Junnilainen, J. et al. 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part II: list of recorded species with taxonomic notes (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa, 2367: 1–68. Preview
^ Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Keys and description
^ The preimaginal stages of Pnigalio gyamiensis Myartseva & Kurashev, 1990 (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae), a parasitoid associated with Chrysoesthia sexguttella (Thunberg) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae)

External links[]

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[1] Junnilainen, J. et al. 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part II: list of recorded species with taxonomic notes (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa, 2367: 1–68. Preview

[2] Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Keys and description

[3] The preimaginal stages of Pnigalio gyamiensis Myartseva & Kurashev, 1990 (Hymenoptera, Eulophidae), a parasitoid associated with Chrysoesthia sexguttella (Thunberg) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae)

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