CHAPTER IX 



SUPERFAMILY GELECHOIDEA 

 GELECHIIDAE 



In this large family there are comparatively few leaf- 

 miners, and these few are mostly single species in genera 

 that are mainly of other larval habits. None of the miners 

 are highly specialized for this sort of life. They are border- 

 line forms, leaf-mining being mixed with other habits. 



In the typical genus Gelechia occurs the aberrant miner 

 already mentioned in Chapter I at page 28. There is also 

 a European miner, G. petastites (of doubtful occurrence in 

 North America). The following genera contain our better 

 known species. 



Phthorimaea 



Two species of this genus mine in the leaves of Solanaceae. 

 Best known is the tobacco split-worm, P. operculella, whose 

 common name graphically describes the work of a general- 

 ized leaf -miner: it splits the leaf by removal of the meso- 

 phyll. This species is of world-wide distribution in tobacco- 

 growing districts. It has proved a serious pest in parts of 

 Florida, Tennessee and California. 



Being something of an opportunist, it is also betimes a 

 borer in tubers. In this role (with which we are not here 

 concerned) it is known to the growers as the "potato tuber 

 moth." The best account of its leaf-mining habits is that 

 of Morgan and Crumb (14) from which we quote as follows: 



In forming its mine the larva begins by spinning a tent of silk 

 between the mid-rib, or between the vein and the surface of the 

 leaf. Under this protection it soon forms a shelter between the 



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