Biology:Zimmermannia bosquella

Short description: Species of moth

Zimmermannia bosquella
Conservation status
Unrankable (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nepticulidae
Genus:	Zimmermannia
Species:	Z. bosquella
Binomial name
Zimmermannia bosquella (Chambers, 1878)
Synonyms
Ectodemia castanaeae [lapsus] Ectoedemia bosquella (Chambers, 1878) Ectoedemia castaneae Busck, 1913 Ectoedemia heinrichi Busck, 1914 Ectoedemia helenella Wilkinson, 1981 Ectoedemia obrutella sensu Wilkinson & Newton, 1981 Nepticula bosqueella Chambers, 1878 Nepticula bosquella Chambers, 1878 Opostega bosqueella (Chambers, 1878)

Zimmermannia bosquella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky in the United States. It is now classified as conspecific with the American chestnut moth, which was formerly considered as extinct.

Description

The wingspan is 9–10 mm. The larvae are full grown in October and early November, producing adults in May and June of the following year.

Behaviour and ecology

The larvae feed on Quercus palustris. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The larva forms a characteristic oval spiral mine in the bark of young branches of pin oak. The mine is a narrow linear track, closely coiled in a flattened oval spiral, resembling a watch spring. The empty egg shell often remains attached to the bark in the center of the mine after the larva has deserted the mine. The bark of old mines cracks and often breaks away entirely, leaving the inner bark exposed, producing scars which persist for a number of years.

The moth's synergistic relationship with the North American nut species led to a catastrophic population decline when almost all of the American chestnut trees fell victim to chestnut blight. The American chestnut tree was driven almost to extinction, and the American chestnut moth was thought to be extinct. The American chestnut tree moth was later found to still be extant within populations of Zimmermannia bosquella.

External links

• Nepticulidae of North America

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