''Pectinivalva minotaurus'' 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

Nepticulidae Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes (see also Opostegidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, inc ...

. It is found in southern

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. 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 4.7–5.5 mm for males and 4.7–5.8 mm for females. Half of the forewings is dark fuscous with bluish and purplish reflections, beyond this, they are dark fuscous with bronzy reflections. There is a shining pale golden fascia at 2/3. The apex of the wing has purplish reflections at the base of the cilia. The hindwings are grey.Phylogeny and host-plant relationships of the Australian Myrtaceae leafmining moth genus Pectinivalva (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae), with new subgenera and species
/ref> The larvae feed on ''

Lophostemon confertus ''Lophostemon confertus'' (syn. ''Tristania conferta''), is an evergreen tree native to Australia, though it is cultivated in the United States and elsewhere. Common names include brush box, Queensland box, Brisbane box, pink box, box scrub, and ...

'' and ''

Lophostemon suaveolens ''Lophostemon suaveolens'' is a tree species, also known as swamp mahogany, swamp box or swamp turpentine, of the botanical family Myrtaceae. It grows to a medium-sized tree, native in Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, botanical sources ...

''. 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 very long narrow gallery with black linear

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 ...

, leaving narrow clear margins. It broadens rather abruptly into an irregular wide gallery or elongate blotch, sometimes with gallery parts, with a central line of black frass or (in the case of the blotch) frass concentrated on one or both sides. The exit-hole is located on the underside and has the form of an almost circular hole. Pupation takes place in a dark reddish brown cocoon.

Etymology

The species is named after the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...

and refers to the extraordinarily expanded and flattened male antennae, which are likened to the Minotaur's horns.

Gallery

File:Pectinivalva minotaurus cocoon.jpg, Cocoon File:Pectinivalva minotaurus male pupa dorsal view.jpg, Male pupa, dorsal view File:Pectinivalva_minotaurus_male_pupa.jpg, Male pupa, ventral view File:Pectinivalva_minotaurus_mine.jpg, Mine

References

Moths described in 2013 Moths of Australia Nepticulidae {{Nepticulidae-stub