''Phyllonorycter leucaspis'' is a
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
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
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. The habitat consists of richly vegetated valleys between 1,600 and 1,900 meters elevation dominated by ''
Acacia hereroensis'', ''
Dombeya rotundifolia
''Dombeya rotundifolia'', the dikbas or "South African wild pear" (it is not related to pear trees), is a small deciduous tree with dark grey to blackish deeply fissured bark, found in Southern Africa and northwards to central and eastern tropi ...
'' and ''
Rhus
Sumac ( or ), also spelled sumach, is any of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' and related genera in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, including Eas ...
'' species.
The length of the forewings is 3.53 mm. Adults are on wing in March.
Systematics, revisionary taxonomy, and biodiversity of Afrotropical Lithocolletinae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae)
/ref>
References
Endemic fauna of Namibia
Moths described in 2004
leucaspis
Insects of Namibia
Moths of Africa
{{Phyllonorycter-stub