''Phyllonorycter grewiella'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Gracillariidae Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, ''Cameraria ...

. It is known from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and coastal

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. The habitat consists of the coastal savannahs of southern and East Africa and the forests belonging to the Zanzibar-Inhambane floristic region. The length of the forewings is 2.4–2.8 mm. Adults have been reared and collected during every month of the year except August, October and December.Systematics, revisionary taxonomy, and biodiversity of Afrotropical Lithocolletinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)
/ref> The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e feed on ''

Grewia bicolor ''Grewia bicolor'', called bastard brandy bush, false brandy bush, two-coloured grewia, white-leaved grewia, white-leaved raisin, white raisin and donkey berry (a name it shares with ''Grewia flavescens''), is a species of flowering plant in the ...

'', ''

Grewia flava ''Grewia flava'', the brandy bush, wild currant, velvet raisin, or raisin tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to southern Africa. A common shrub species, it is spreading into grasslands due to human rangeland man ...

'', ''

Grewia flavescens ''Grewia flavescens'', called rough-leaved raisin, sandpaper raisin, and donkey berry (a name it shares with '' Grewia bicolor''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to subSaharan Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Indi ...

'', ''

Grewia hexamita ''Grewia hexamita'', the giant raisin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to Mozambique and adjoining countries. It is a large tree for a ''Grewia'', reaching . It is the most preferred woody plant of African savanna ...

'', ''

Grewia messinica ''Grewia'' is a large flowering plant genus in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Formerly, ''Grewia'' was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. However, th ...

'', '' Grewia monticola'' and ''

Grewia villosa ''Grewia villosa'' is a shrub, often scrambling and hardly exceeding 4 m in height. Leaves are fairly large, serrated and heart-shaped. It grows naturally, mainly in dry habitats. It is common in most of the semi-arid parts of Eastern Africa but ...

''. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

the leaves of their host plant.

References

Moths described in 1961 grewiella Moths of Africa Moths of the Middle East {{Phyllonorycter-stub