Schneidereria platyphracta

Schneidereria platyphracta is a moth of the Gelechiidae family. It is found in southern India.^[1]

The wingspan is about 12 mm. The forewings are ochreous-grey-whitish with a small blackish spot on the base of the costa, the dorsal edge in females blackish-grey towards the base. There is a rather broad oblique black fascia about one-fourth and a variable small blackish spot on the middle of the costa, as well as an irregular oblong blackish blotch on the costa about two-thirds, with two small black spots near or forming the lower angles of this, and two others beneath this on the fold, the second sometimes absorbed in a black tornal spot. There is some grey suffusion and indications of blackish dots around the apical margin. The hindwings are grey, thinly scaled, towards the base tinged whitish.

The larvae feed on the leaves of Odina wodier. Young larvae mine the leaf, ejecting a little heap of excrement at an open end of the mine. The larva then emerges and feeds externally under a little shelter formed of a partially cut circle of leaf and excrement. Eventually, it wanders to the long pointed tip of the leaf which it sews up with about five strong strands of silk, and it lives in the tunnel thus formed under a stout web and emerges from this to feed on the cuticle.^[2]

References

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