Epicephala
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Epicephala
''Epicephala'' (leafflower moths) is a genus of moths in the family Gracillariidae. ''Epicephala'' is of note in the fields of Anthecology, pollination biology and coevolution because many species in this genus are pollinators of plants in the genera ''Glochidion'', ''Phyllanthus'', and ''Breynia'' (Phyllanthaceae). These pollinating ''Epicephala'' actively pollinate the flowers of their host plants—thereby ensuring that the plants may produce viable seeds—but also lay eggs in the flowers' ovaries, where their larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds as nourishment.Kawakita, A.; Kato, M. (2009) "Repeated independent evolution of obligate pollination mutualism in the Phyllantheae-''Epicephala'' association." ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B.'' 276: 417–426. This relationship is similar to other specialized pollinating seed-predation mutualism (biology), mutualisms such as those between Ficus, figs and fig wasps and yuccas and Prodoxidae, yucca moths. Other species ...
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Epicephala Corruptrix
''Epicephala corruptrix'' is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is found on the Ryukyu Archipelago (Amami Island, Tokuno Island, Okinawa Island, Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island). The wingspan is 7.2–8.8 mm. The forewings are brown with a narrow white band on the dorsum from the base to 2/3 of the entire length and with two pairs of narrow white bands beginning at the costal and dorsal margin near 1/2 to 3/4 length of the wing and extending obliquely toward the wing apex, terminating before reaching mid-width of the wing. The dorso-distal band is accompanied by another parallel band of same size on the distal position and there is a narrow silver band with metallic reflection extending from the costa to the dorsum at 5/6 length. The distal 1/6 is orange-brown with a black dot centrally, franked by short white band near the dorsum. The distal end is fringed with a narrow white band. The hindwings are brown. The larvae feed on the seeds of ''Glochidion obovatum'' ...
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