Homaledra is a small genus of at least four species small moth of the family Pterolonchidae native to North and South America.
Taxonomy It was included in the family Coleophoridae by Ron Hodges in 1983. Hodges then moved it to the subfamily Batrachedrinae of the Batrachedridae in 1999. In 2014, a cladistic analysis performed by Heikkilä et al., made them deem it necessary to reclassify the genus in the family Pterolonchidae.
In 1997 Hodges moved the two South American species Pammeces citraula and P. crocoxysta to Homaledra.
Species The following species are known: Homaledra citraula (Meyrick, 1922) - Peru Homaledra crocoxysta (Meyrick, 1922) - Brazil Homaledra heptathalama Busck, 1900 - Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.Moth Photographers Group at Mississippi State University Homaledra sabalella (Chambers, 1880) - Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas,Moth Photographers Group at Mississippi State University Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Cuba.
Ecology Homaledra heptathalama feeds in the folds on the undersides of the palm fronds, using silk bolstered with its frass to construct a small elongate chamber to which it adds, as it grows, successively larger, more or less rectangular, thick-walled, communicating rooms, usually building up to eight.
Uses At least two species are pests of palms in Florida.
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