''Bucculatrix caribbea'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

species in the family

Bucculatricidae Bucculatricidae or (Bucculatrigidae) is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae. Adults of this family are easily overlooked, bein ...

and was first described in 2002 by

Donald R. Davis Donald or Don Davis may refer to: Entertainment * Donald Davis (writer) (1904–1992), American playwright and screenwriter * Don Marion Davis (1917-2020), American child actor * Donald Davis (actor) (1928–1998), Canadian actor and theatre dir ...

and Bernard Landry. It is found on the island of Cozumel (

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) and Glovers Reef in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, but it is probably widespread along coastal areas in many parts of the Caribbean region. The length of the forewings is 2–2.3 mm. The forewings are white, densely covered with dark brownish fuscous scales. The hindwings are pale grey. The larvae feed on ''

Cordia sebestena ''Cordia sebestena'' is a shrubby tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, native to the Americas, American tropics. It ranges from southern Florida in the United States and the Bahamas, southwards throughout Central America and the Greater Anti ...

''. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a serpentine mine, which is later enlarged to a small, full depth blotch. The black

frass Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter. Definition and etymology ''Frass'' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the ...

is deposited in the serpentine portion of the mine and partway along either side of the blotch. Older larvae feed externally, skeletonizing small patches of leaf. Pupation takes place in a cocoon, which is spun on the underside of the leaf, mostly near the midrib.

Etymology

The species name refers to the Caribbean, the geographical regional name of the area of distribution.Two new Neotropical species of Bucculatrix leaf miners (Lepidoptera: Bucculatricidae) reared from Cordia (Boraginaceae)
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References

Bucculatricidae Leaf miners Moths described in 2002 Moths of the Caribbean {{Gracillarioidea-stub