Kingdom Animalia Family Gelechiidae Scientific name Chrysoesthia sexguttella Rank Species | Class Insecta Genus Chrysoesthia Phylum Arthropoda Order Butterflies and moths | |
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Similar Butterflies and moths, Chrysoesthia drurella, Aproaerema anthyllidella, Syncopacma cinctella, Monochroa | ||
Chrysoesthia sexguttella is a moth of the Gelechiidae family. It is found in all of Europe, east to southern Siberia, as well as the north-eastern parts of North America, where it might be an introduced species.
The wingspan is 8–10 mm. Adults are on 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 cakotheca, Atriplex hastata, Atriplex hortensis, Atriplex littoralis, Atriplex prostrata, Atriplex nitens, Atriplex patula and Atriplex sibirica), Chenopodium species (including Chenopodium album, Chenopodium bonus-henricus, Chenopodium giganteum, Chenopodium glaucum, Chenopodium hybridum, Chenopodium murale, Chenopodium opulifolium, Chenopodium polyspermum, Chenopodium quinoa, Chenopodium urbicum and Chenopodium vulvaria), Amaranthus blitum, Amaranthus caudatus, Bassia scoparia and Spinacia. They form a contorted gallery on the surface of the leaves.
Parasitoids
Pnigalio gyamiensis 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.