Coleophora albicosta

The testaceous white-back (Coleophora albicosta) is a moth of the family Coleophoridae. It is found in most of western Europe.

Coleophora albicosta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Coleophoridae
Genus:
Coleophora
Species:
C. albicosta
Binomial name
Coleophora albicosta
(Haworth, 1828)
Synonyms
  • Porrectaria albicosta Haworth, 1828
  • Coleophora fraudulentella Toll, 1944

The wingspan is about 14 mm. Head pale ochreous, sides whitish. Antennae white, ringed with fuscous, basal joint ochreous-tinged, with rough spreading scales. Forewings light ochreous-yellowish, sprinkled with light fuscous, especially towards costa ; a white costal streak from base to near apex ; a white line in disc from before middle to termen, one along fold, and one along dorsum to apex. Hindwings grey.[1]

Adults are on wing from June to July. They fly by day, but also sometimes come to light at night.

The larvae feed on Ulex europaeus, at first on green seeds inside a seedpod. It then lives in a detached sepal rolled into a case, which it attaches to the side of a seedpod and bores in to feed on the seeds. Finally, it diapauses full-fed in a silk case in a dead flower and pupates in the overwintering case.

References
  1. 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


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.