''Homaledra sabalella'', the palm leaf skeletonizer moth, 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 ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Pterolonchidae Pterolonchidae is a small family of very small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea.Wikispecies (2008-NOV-06) There are species native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Taxonomy and systematics As of 2014 the family may be co ...

.''Moth Photographers Group''
at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is also present in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Taxonomy

''Homaledra sabalella'' was described as ''Laverna sabalella'' by

Vactor Tousey Chambers Vactor Tousey Chambers (commonly V.T. Chambers) (6 August 1830, Burlington, Kentucky – 7 August 1883, in Covington, Kentucky) was an American entomologist who specialized in Microlepidoptera. He along with James Brackenridge Clemens, was a pione ...

in 1880. It was included in the family

Coleophoridae __NOTOC__ The Coleophoridae are a family of small moths, belonging to the huge superfamily Gelechioidea. Collectively known as case-bearers, casebearing moths or case moths, this family is represented on all continents, but the majority are found ...

Ron Hodges Ronald Wray Hodges (born June 22, 1949) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball, who spent his entire 12-year career with the New York Mets. Hodges was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the sixth round of the 1970 Major League ...

in 1983. Hodges then moved it to the subfamily Batrachedrinae of the

Batrachedridae The Batrachedridae are a small family of tiny moths. These are small, slender moths which rest with their wings wrapped tightly around their bodies. Taxonomy The taxonomy of this and related groups is often disputed. This group was first propos ...

in 1999. In 2014, a

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

analysis performed by Heikkilä ''et al''., which led them to decide it was better to reclassify the genus in the family

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is about 18 mm. Adults mature and are active year-round.

Ecology

The larvae feed on ''

Sabal palmetto ''Sabal palmetto'' (, '' SAY-bəl''), also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the So ...

'', ''

Sabal causiarum ''Sabal causiarum'', commonly known as the Puerto Rico palmetto or Puerto Rican hat palm, is a species of Arecaceae, palm which is native to Hispaniola (in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands. As it ...

'' and ''

Cocos nucifera The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

''. They feed on the palm fronds.

References

Arctiidae genus list
at ''Butterflies and Moths of the World'' of the Natural History Museum, London Pterolonchidae Moths described in 1880 {{Batrachedridae-stub