Family Gracillariidae: Leaf blotch miners
| Diagnosis: Ocelli absent, vertex smooth (some
species not known from ND with rough scaled vertex); labial palpi upturned
and three segemented; proboscis without scales; wings lanceolate to
linear, fringe usually longer than width of membrane.
Diversity: 75 genera and about 2,000 species worldwide, 23 genera and about 270 species in North America, two species have been recorded from North Dakota. Checklist numbers: 583-854. Biology: Larvae in early instars are highly modified (flattened, apodus) sap feeders, later instars are tissue feeders which may continue the leaf mine or may feed externally in a curled leaf. Additional quiescent or silk spinning stages have been described for various species. This is the principal family of leaf-mining Lepidoptera.
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| Further reading:
Davis, Donald R. and Gaden S. Robinson, Chapter 7. The Tineoidea and Gracillarioidea in Kristensen, Neils P. ed. 1999. Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. Part 35, Vol. 1 in Handbook of Zoology. Maximilian Fischer ed. Walter de Gryter, New York. 491 pp. Forbes, William T. M. 1923. Gracillariidae, pp. 161- 202, and also Lyonetiidae (in part) pp. 148- 159, in Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. Part I. Primitive forms, Microlepidoptera, Pyraloids, Bombyces. Cornell Agric. Exp. Sta. Mem. 68: 729 pp. Scoble, Malcom J. 1992. Chapter 11. Lower Ditrysia, pp. 225- 254 in The Lepidoptera: form, function, and diversity. Oxford Univ. press. 1982. 404 pp.
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