Cosmopterix orichalcea

Cosmopterix orichalcea is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is known from most of Europe (except the Balkan Peninsula) east to Japan.

A mined leaf blade of Festuca arundinacea

Larva

Cosmopterix orichalcea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Cosmopterigidae
Genus:	Cosmopterix
Species:	C. orichalcea
Binomial name
Cosmopterix orichalcea (Stainton, 1861)[1]
Synonyms
Cosmopteryx orichalcea Stainton, 1861 Cosmopteryx druryella Zeller, 1850 Cosmopterix singularis Sinev, 1979

The wingspan is about 9 mm.[2] The antennae with apex and two subapical rings white. Forewings black ; a large brassy-metallic basal patch, edge very oblique ; a broad orange fascia beyond middle, narrowed dorsally, edged with black scales and then with narrow violet-golden-metallic fasciae ; a bluish-silvery-metallic sometimes interrupted streak along upper.The larva is pale yellow ; dorsal line greenish ; head black plate of 2 black,bisected. [3]

Adults are on wing from August to May. Then the larva hibernates outside of the mine in a hibernaculum.

The larvae feed on Anthoxanthum odoratum, Festuca arundinacea, Hierochloe odorata, Milium species, Phalaris arundinacea and Phragmites australis. They mine the leaves of their host plant. They prefer the lower leaves. The mine has the form of an elongate, rather irregular blotch. Most frass is ejected, but the remaining frass is concentrated in a few heaps. A single larva makes several mines. Pupation takes place outside the mine.[4]

References

1. Fauna Europaea
2. UKmoths
3. 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
4. "bladmineerders.nl". Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2011-03-21.