''Caloptilia aurantiaca'' 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 ...

of the family

Gracillariidae Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, ''Cameraria ...

. It is known from

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on ''

Hypericum canariense ''Hypericum canariense'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae known by the common name Canary Islands St. John's wort. It is the sole member of ''Hypericum'' sect. ''Webbia''. Etymology Among its numerous aliases in Spanis ...

'', '' Hypericum glandulosum'', '' Hypericum inodorum'' and '' Hypericum reflexum''. 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 an epidermal corridor, but later becomes a shallow tentiform mine. In the end, the larva lives freely under a folded leaf tip.

References

aurantiaca Moths described in 1858 Insects of the Canary Islands Arthropods of Madeira Moths of Africa {{Caloptilia-stub