Nealyda kinzelella

Nealyda kinzelella is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It was described by August Busck in 1900. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Florida.^[1][2]

The wingspan is 5.5-6.5 mm. The basal half of the forewings is light brown, the color gradually becoming darker outwardly and terminating in a deep velvety brown. There is a transverse fascia at the middle of the wing, on the outside edged with a thin line of white scales. The fascia is more thickly scaled than the rest of the wing and protrudes in a small dorsal scale tooth. The ground color of the apical half of the wing is silvery white, thickly suffused with black, fuscous and bluish scales. An ill-defined group of dark scales at beginning of cilia is edged below with a few brown scales. Another at the apex also has a few brown scales below. At the tornus is a nearly black spot and the entire apical edge is nearly black. The hindwings are silvery gray.

The larvae feed on . They mine the leaves of their host plant, creating upper surface, trumpet-formed blotch mines. Pupation takes place outside of the mine in a snow white cocoon.

Etymology[]

The species is named in honour of botanist Mr. F. Kinzel.^[3]

References[]