The genus Chlamydastis Meyrick, 1916 (Elachistidae, Stenomatinae) contains 82 described species from Neotropical region, including Chlamydastis smodicopa (Meyrick, 1915), with the local type in Amazonas State, Brazil. In the cerrado (savanna woodland) area of Brasilia, Federal District, their larvae are external folivorous and restricted to the host plant Styrax ferrugineus Nees & Mart. (Styracaceae). Over the study period from June 2000 to June 2001, we inspected 243 S. ferrugineus individuals and found 38 species of lepidopteran larvae on 26% of the examined plants. Despite the fact that C. smodicopa is the most common species found on the host, it occurred only on 7% of the inspected plants. In the last instars they present a dark chestnut head, a brownish prothoracic shield with a yellow stripe in the anterior margin, a body integument that is grayish with brownish transverse stripes, brownish-yellow dorsolateral stripes, and they can attain up to 30 mm in length. Larvae are solitary and build an ovoid shelter by attaching two leaves together with silk, but leave both extremities open: one is used for feeding, and the other one for frass deposition. New shelters are built as they grow or when the leaves become senescent. Larvae in the last instar build a cocoon inside the shelter, where the pupal stage occurs, and under laboratory conditions the mean pupation time was 18 days. Their larvae had the highest frequency of occurrence from August to September, the final months of the dry season in the cerrado.
Caterpillar; Cerrado; feeding specialist; host plant; larval shelter
