''Stigmella aladina'' 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 ...
of the family
Nepticulidae
Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes (see also Opostegidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, incl ...
. It is found in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
(Primorskiy Kray),
China (Heilongjiang) and
Japan (Honshu, Kyushu).
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...
is 4.6-5.7 mm. There are two generations per year. Adults are on wing in July and August and again in spring, although this second generation is only known from reared specimens.
The larvae feed on ''
Quercus mongolica
''Quercus mongolica'', commonly known as Mongolian oak, is a species of oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The commo ...
'' and ''
Quercus serrata
''Quercus serrata'', the jolcham oak, (, ) is an East Asian species of tree in the beech family. It is native to China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Description
''Quercus serrata'' is a deciduous oak tree reaching a height of occupying elevatio ...
'' and ''
Quercus acutissima
''Quercus acutissima'', the sawtooth oak, is an Asian species of oak native to China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indochina (Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia) and the Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan, northeastern India). It is widely planted in many la ...
'' in Japan. They
mine the leaves
A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths ( Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, the mother clade of wasps ...
of their host plant.
External links
Japanese MothsNepticulidae (Lepidoptera) in China, 1. Introduction and Stigmella (Schrank) feeding on Fagaceae
Nepticulidae
Moths of Asia
Moths described in 1984
{{Stigmella-stub