Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Nepticulidae Scientific name Ectoedemia heinrichi | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Ectoedemia Rank Species | |
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Ectoedemia heinrichi is a moth of the Nepticulidae family. It is found in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky in the United States.
The wingspan is 9–10 mm. The larvae are full grown in October and early November, producing adults in May and June of the following year.
The larvae feed on Quercus palustris. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The larva forms a characteristic oval spiral mine in the bark of young branches of pin oak. The mine is a narrow linear track, closely coiled in a flattened oval spiral, resembling a watch spring. The empty egg shell often remains attached to the bark in the center of the mine after the larva has deserted the mine. The bark of old mines cracks and often breaks away entirely, leaving the inner bark exposed, producing scars which persist for a number of years.