Coleophora cf. solitariella

• Subfamily:
• Wingspan: 10-13 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Jul
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Arenaria serpyllifolia - Stellaria sp. ...

Information

The Coleophora solitariella is a small moth of the Coleophoridae family with a wingspan of 10-13 mm.
It is widespread in most of Central Eastern Europe, Great Britain, Sweden, Romania and Italy from which it is absent from the islands. *

The front wings are of a uniform ocher color with a slight dark shade at the beginning of the costa. The edges are strongly fringed. The hind wings are dark gray also strongly fringed.

The certainty of the species is possible only with the dissection of the genitals, and therefore the cf. is a must .

Adult moths are visible from June to July. It inhabits woods and hedges, prefers shaded shelters making detection difficult. The larvae live in a thin grayish pouch of about 8 mm from which they feed. The angle of the box mouth is approximately 45 °. There are often several cases together on a small number of plants. **
The pupae can be found in May.

The larvae feed on Arenaria serpyllifolia, Cerastium arvense, Cerastium glomeratum, Myosoton aquaticum, Stellaria alsina, Stellaria holostea, Stellaria media, Stellaria nemorum and Stellaria uliginosa.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Ellis, W N. "Coleophora solitariella Zeller, 1849 ochreous case-bearer". Plant Parasites of Europe