''Hypsipyla grandella'' 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

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyralida ...

. It is found in southern Florida (United States), most of the West Indies, Sinaloa and southward in Mexico, Central America, South America except Chile and in Mauritius. The larvae cause damage by feeding on new shoots of mahogany (''Swietenia'' spp.) and cedro (also known as Spanish-cedar and tropical-cedar; ''Cedrela'' spp.). ''H. grandella'' feeds on the West Indies mahoganies in southern Florida, which restricts the reproduction of the mahogany population. The insects prefer a tree that gets full sun light, and isn't being shaded by a canopy level. The larvae are often called mahogany shoot borers, but the name may differ by country.

References

External links

mahogany shoot borer
on the University of Florida, UF / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{DEFAULTSORT:Hypsipyla Grandella Moths described in 1848 Phycitini Moths of Mauritius Moths of North America Moths of South America Moths of the Caribbean