Phyllonorycter celtisella

Description

Phyllonorycter celtisella is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from Ontario in Canada and Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Texas in the United States. The larvae feed on Celtis species, including Celtis occidentalis. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a blotch mine on the upperside of the leaf. 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.