Phyllonorycter corylifoliella

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella, the hawthorn red midget moth, is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is found in all of Europe.

Two mined hawthorn leaves

Larva

Phyllonorycter corylifoliella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Phyllonorycter
Species:	P. corylifoliella
Binomial name
Phyllonorycter corylifoliella (Hubner, 1796)
Synonyms
Tinea corylifoliella Hubner, 1796 Lithocolletis betulae Zeller, 1839

The wingspan is 8–9 mm. The forewings are reddish-ocbreous, posteriorly or sometimes almost wholly suffused with blackish-grey blotches; a slender white median streak from base to near middle, with a marked sinuation downwards; a slender oblique white streak from the middle of costa, and another from the middle of dorsum; sometimes a whitish tornal dot and anteapical strigula. Hind wings are grey or dark grey. The larva is pale yellowish; dorsal line green; head pale brownish.[1]

Adults are on wing in May and again in August in two generations.

The larvae feed on Amelanchier lamarckii, Amelanchier ovalis, Betula pendula, Betula pubescens, Chaenomeles japonica, Cotoneaster nebrodensis, Crataegus laevigata, Crataegus monogyna, Cydonia oblonga, Malus domestica, Malus sylvestris, Mespilus germanica, Prunus avium, Pyrus amygdaliformis, Pyrus communis, Sorbus aria, Sorbus aucuparia, Sorbus domestica, Sorbus torminalis and Spiraea species. They mine the leaves of their host plant. They create a silvery, upper-surface, epidermal tentiform mine, which is centred over the midrib or a large lateral vein. The epidermis remains without folds until the mine becomes strongly contracted. Young mines have the appearance of a streak of silver on top of a vein.