Coleophora cf. cecidophorella

• Subfamily:
• Wingspan: 11-14 mm
• Flight period: May - Jul (data not certain)
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Fallopia convolvulus - Fallopia dumetorum

Information

The Coleophora cecidophorella is a small moth of the Coleophoridae family, with a wingspan of 12-14 mm.
In Europe it is present in France, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine. In Italy it is absent from the islands. *

The front wings are fringed, ocher in color, shaded in dark ocher along the inner margin. The hind wings are brown/dark ocher and are strongly fringed almost "feathered" as almost always in the Coleophoridae. The abdomen is in the background color of the front wings. The antennae are filiform, with thin ocher and white lines.

Coleophora cecidophorella was established as an objective substitute name for Coleophora icterella Toll, 1949.

The larva develops in the fruit, which turns into an elliptical gall, about 1 cm long. The mature larva makes an opening in the gall, and by biting the stem it drops it from the plants, then it uses the gall in the typical way of the Coleophoridae larvae, ie as a case to look for a hibernation site. **

The larvae are monophagous and feed on fallopia sp. in particular of Fallopia convolvulus and Fallopia dumetorum.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Studies on Coleophoridae (Lepidoptera) II. A new name for Coleophora icterella Toll 1949. — Entomologische Berichten 32 (6): 120-121. Amsterdam. — Digitalisat auf archive.org: [120-121] - https://archive.org/details/entomolog323319721973amst/page/n133/mode/2up