Phyllonorycter celtisella

Phyllonorycter celtisella is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from Ontario in Canada and Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas in the United States.^[2][3]

Phyllonorycter celtisella
Preserved specimen with right wings extended
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Phyllonorycter
Species:	P. celtisella
Binomial name
Phyllonorycter celtisella (Chambers, 1871)[1]
Synonyms
Lithocolletis celtisella Chambers, 1871 Phyllonorycter celtiella (Meyrick, 1912) Phyllonorycter nonfasciella (Chambers, 1871) Phyllonorycter pusillifoliella (Frey & Boll, 1876)

The larvae feed on Celtis species, including Celtis occidentalis.^[4][5] They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a blotch mine on the upperside of the leaf.^[5] The larva, of the cylindrical type in the later stages, enters the leaf on the lower surface, and makes a narrow linear mine, then cuts through the parenchyma to the upper side, where the mine broadens into an elongate blotch, made tent-like by a longitudinal ridge in each epidermis. The larvae eat the entire parenchyma, leaving merely the dark discoloured cuticles of the leaf.

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  Lateral view (3.6 mm long)
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  Dorsal view
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  Leaf mine (upper right)