Merimnetria arcuata is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Merimnetria arcuata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Gelechiidae
Genus: Merimnetria
Species:
M. arcuata
Binomial name
Merimnetria arcuata
(Walsingham, 1907)
Synonyms
  • Merimnetria (Aristoteliodes) arcuata
  • Aristotelia arcuata Walsingham, 1907

The wingspan is about 12 mm. The forewings are whitish ocherous, gradually suffused from one-third with dull olive brown, leaving a tornal, and a smaller opposite costal patch of the pale ground color. There is a minute dark spot is visible in the fold a little beyond its middle. The hindwings are brownish gray.[1]

The larvae feed on Kadua species. They mine the leaves of their host plant.

References

edit
  1. ^ Fauna Hawaiiensis 1 (5): 482   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
edit
  • Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii. Vol. 9 Microlepidoptera. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. hdl:10125/7338.