Calybites phasianipennella

• Subfamily: Gracillariinae
• Wingspan: 10-11 mm
• Flight period: Sep - May
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Lythraceae, Polygonaceae, Primulaceae

Information

The Calybites phasianipennella also called Little Slenderis a small moth of the Gracillariidae family, subfamily Gracillariinae, with a wingspan of 10-11 mm.
In Europe it is present almost everywhere, it is absent from Slovenia and Croatia. In Italy it is also present in the islands. *
Its range extends over most of Asia.

The Calybites phasianipennella is known in two forms, where, in both, there is a dark brown background; in one there is a large dorsal vein and smaller pale markings, in the second there are four large cream or whitish markings. Intermediate forms are also known.
The rear wing is dark gray with brown shades, silky in appearance, strongly fringed.**

The intensely arched palps are brown in color with white / cream tips. Head, thorax and abdomen are in the background color of the front wings.

The adults flicker in late August and September, and overwinter in this stage or in that of pupa, to re-emerge in April and May. They frequent humid places such as woods and swamps, sometimes the edges of wheat fields on irrigation canals.

The larvae undermine the leaves of their host plant. The mine begins as an epidermal corridor, then becomes a superficial spot that is first pale and then brown. The excrement is deposited in a corner of the mine.
The older larvae leave the mine and continue to feed inside a cone, made by cutting a strip of leaf fabric and tying it with silk. ***, ****

The larvae feed on:
Chenopodium hybridum, Fallopia aubertii, Fallopia convolvulus, Lysimachia vulgaris, Lythrum salicaria, Oxyria digyna, Persicaria amphibia, Persicaria hydropiper, Persicaria lapathifolia, Persicaria maculosa, Rumex acetosa, Rumex acetosella, Rumex aquaticus, Rumex hydrolapathum and Rumex obtusifolius.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium - https://projects.biodiversity.be/lepidoptera/
**** Plant Parasites of Europe leafminers, galls and fungi - https://bladmineerders.nl/