Hypsipyla grandella

Hypsipyla grandella is a moth of the family Pyralidae. It is found in southern Florida (United States), most of the West Indies, Sinaloa and southward in Mexico, Central America, South America except Chile and in Mauritius.^[1]

Hypsipyla grandella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pyralidae
Genus:	Hypsipyla
Species:	H. grandella
Binomial name
Hypsipyla grandella (Zeller, 1848)
Synonyms
Nephopteryx grandella Zeller, 1848 Hypsipyla cnabella Dyar, 1914

The larvae cause damage by feeding on new shoots of mahogany (Swietenia spp.) and cedro (also known as Spanish-cedar and tropical-cedar; Cedrela spp.). H. grandella feeds on the West Indies mahoganies in southern Florida, which restricts the reproduction of the mahogany population.^[2] The insects prefer a tree that gets full sun light, and isn't being shaded by a canopy level.^[3]

The larvae are often called mahogany shoot borers, but the name may differ by country.^[4]