Caloptilia falconipennella
Caloptilia falconipennella is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from all of Europe, except the Balkan Peninsula.
Caloptilia falconipennella | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Gracillariidae |
Genus: | Caloptilia |
Species: | C. falconipennella |
Binomial name | |
Caloptilia falconipennella | |
Synonyms | |
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The wingspan is about 13 millimetres (0.51 in). The forewings are dark reddish-fuscous irrorated with whitish ; margins and fold dotted with black and an indistinct whitish triangular costal blotch before middle. Hindwings are dark grey.[2]
Adults are on wing in September and overwinter, reappearing in the spring.[3]
The larvae feed on alder (Alnus glutinosa). They mine the leaves of their host plant which consists of a small lower-surface blotch near the leaf margin. The mine is in fact a tentiform mine, but so little silk is produced that the blotch hardly contracts at all. The mine is preceded by a quite short corridor, that is overrun by the later blotch. Older larvae leave the mine and start feeding under a flap of the leaf margin that is folded down and attached to the blade underside with silk. Two or three such folds are made on the same or another leaf.[4]
References
- "Caloptilia falconipennella (Hübner, 1813)". Fauna Europaea. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Keys and description
- Kimber, Ian. "15.011 BF289 Caloptilia falconipennella (Hübner, [1813])". UKmoths. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- Ellis, W N. "Caloptilia falconipennella (Hübner, 1813) scarce alder slender". Plant Parasites of Europe. Retrieved 8 August 2019.