Caulastrocecis cf. furfurella

• Subfamily: Anomologinae, Aristoteliini
• Wingspan: 13-16 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Jul (data not certain)
• Spread: Uncommon
• Host plants: Asteraceae

Information

The Caulastrocecis furfurella is a moth of the Gelechiidae family, with a wingspan of 13-16 mm.
It is found in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, and the Scandinavian Peninsula. In Italy it is absent from the islands. *
It is also present in Kazakhstan. **

The background color of the front wings of Caulastrocecis furfurella is creamy white with different dusting and brown or black markings; the markings in the shape of an elongated point with undefined margins: three in the discal region to form a triangle and one in the postdiscal. The costa does not differ from the rest of the wing.
The wing margin is fringed. The rear wing is white with the edges marked in ocher and strongly fringed. ***

The curved palps are creamy white, the head and thorax are creamy white with brown or black dusting and markings, as well as the abdomen where the dusting is barely mentioned.***

The larvae of Caulastrocecis furfurella create a fusiform swelling (gall) with dimensions of 12 x 3 mm, in the basal part of the stem of the host plant. The larva lives inside the gall where pupation also occurs. ****

The larvae feed on various Aster species.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Junnilainen, J. et al. 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part II: list of recorded species with taxonomic notes (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa, 2367: 1–68.
*** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
**** Plant Parasites of Europe leafminers, galls and fungi - https://bladmineerders.nl/