Macarostola japonica

Macarostola japonica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Macarostola
Species:	M. japonica
Binomial name
	Macarostola japonica; Kumata, 1977

Macarostola japonica is a species of moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is native to Japan (Honshū and Satunan).^[1]

The wingspan is 9–10 mm.

The larvae feed on . There are four or five instars. In the first two instars the larvae have a flat head and feed on sap, and in the third to supposed fifth instars they feed on tissue, with a round head and a cylindrical body as in usual lepidopterous larvae. The mine starts as a tortuous serpentine mine, which is located inside the lower epidermis of a leaf and is whitish in colour. The second instar larva expands the linear mine to an elongated blotch along the leaf-margin. In this stage the mine occupies the lower layer of spongy parenchyma. The larva of the third instar feeds on the whole parenchymal tissues remaining inside the blotch-mine, then makes it into a tentiform type. After the third moult, the larva leaves the mine through a round hole and migrates to another leaf, which it cuts from the edge towards the midrib. This cut edge is rolled to form a cone on the underside of the leaf, then the larva continues to feed inside the cone. When full-grown the larva leaves the cone to pupate. Pupation takes place at a margin of the same leaf or another one. The cocoon is whitish, boat-shaped, without any bubbles on its upper side.^[2]

References[]

^ Global Taxonomic Database of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera)
^ "On The Japanese Species Of The Genera Macarostola, Aristaea And Systoloneura, With Descriptions Of Three New Species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-11-11.

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[1] Global Taxonomic Database of Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera)

[2] "On The Japanese Species Of The Genera Macarostola, Aristaea And Systoloneura, With Descriptions Of Three New Species (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-11-11.

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