''Stigmella allophylica'' 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 was described by Scoble in 1978. It is found in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

(it was described from the Umhlanga Rocks in Natal). The larvae feed on ''

Allophylus natalensis ''Allophylus natalensis'', commonly known as the dune false crowberry or dune false currant, is a species of plant in the genus ''Allophylus'' native to south-eastern Africa. Description ''Allophylus natalensis'' is a small evergreen tree with a ...

''. They probably

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 ...

the leaves of their host.

References

Endemic moths of South Africa Nepticulidae Moths of Africa Moths described in 1978 {{Stigmella-stub