Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Gracillariidae Scientific name Phyllocnistis perseafolia | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Phyllocnistis Rank Species | |
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Phyllocnistis perseafolia is a moth of the Gracillariidae family. It is known only from the type locality in the Department of Caldas, west-central Colombia, but probably widespread over northern South America wherever avocado is cultivated.
The length of the forewings is 2.6–3.2 mm. Adults have been recorded in April in Colombia.
The larvae feed on Persea americana. Serpentine mines of possibly this species have also been observed on avocado fruit. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a long, slender, serpentine gallery, containing a dark, narrow, median frass trail, present on either the underside or upperside of the leaf, with pupation occurring in a slightly enlarged, elliptical chamber at the mine terminus along the leaf edge.
Etymology
The specific name is derived from the generic plant name of its host, Persea and the Latin folium (meaning leaf), in reference to its leafmining habit.