Pectinivalva minotaurus

Pectinivalva minotaurus is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in southern Queensland.

Pectinivalva minotaurus
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nepticulidae
Genus:
Pectinivalva
Species:
P. minotaurus
Binomial name
Pectinivalva minotaurus
Hoare, 2013

The wingspan is 4.7–5.5 mm for males and 4.7–5.8 mm for females. Half of the forewings is dark fuscous with bluish and purplish reflections, beyond this, they are dark fuscous with bronzy reflections. There is a shining pale golden fascia at 2/3. The apex of the wing has purplish reflections at the base of the cilia. The hindwings are grey.[1]

The larvae feed on Lophostemon confertus and Lophostemon suaveolens. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a very long narrow gallery with black linear frass, leaving narrow clear margins. It broadens rather abruptly into an irregular wide gallery or elongate blotch, sometimes with gallery parts, with a central line of black frass or (in the case of the blotch) frass concentrated on one or both sides. The exit-hole is located on the underside and has the form of an almost circular hole. Pupation takes place in a dark reddish brown cocoon.

Etymology

The species is named after the Minotaur and refers to the extraordinarily expanded and flattened male antennae, which are likened to the Minotaur's horns.

  • Cocoon
  • Male pupa, dorsal view
  • Male pupa, ventral view
  • Mine
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References
  1. Phylogeny and host-plant relationships of the Australian Myrtaceae leafmining moth genus Pectinivalva (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae), with new subgenera and species


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