Ectoedemia festivitatis
| Ectoedemia festivitatis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nepticulidae |
| Genus: | Ectoedemia |
| Species: | E. festivitatis |
| Binomial name | |
| Ectoedemia festivitatis van Nieukerken, 2008 | |
Ectoedemia festivitatis is a moth of the Nepticulidae family. It is found in Nepal, China (Yunnan) and northern Vietnam (Fan Si Pan). It is probably more widespread in south-eastern Asia.
The habitat consists of secondary or degraded forest or shrub vegetation in mountainous areas.
The wingspan is 4.0-6.6 mm. Adults are on wing in August, October and from January to March. There are two or more generations per year.
The larvae feed on shrubby species of Hypericum species, including Hypericum beanii, Hypericum henryi, Hypericum hookerianum, Hypericum uralum and possibly Hypericum petiolulatum and Hypericum oblongifolium. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a very long, sinuous and very narrow gallery, often following leaf margin, with black to brown linear frass, abruptly widening into a blotch with scattered brown frass, usually concentrated in centre, adhering to upper epidermis. The later mine is swollen. The larva spins a cocoon inside a prepared silken tunnel, which leads to an exit slit, which the larva makes prior to spinning its cocoon.
