Stigmella tityrella

Stigmella tityrella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in all of Europe, except the European part of Russia.

Stigmella tityrella
Mine on beech
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nepticulidae
Genus:
Stigmella
Species:
S. tityrella
Binomial name
Stigmella tityrella
(Stainton, 1854)
Synonyms
  • Nepticula tityrella Stainton, 1854
  • Nepticula castanella Stainton, 1859
  • Nepticula turicella Herrich-Schaffer, 1855
  • Nepticula turicensis Frey, 1856

The wingspan is 5–6 mm. The thick erect hairs on the head vertex are ochreous-yellowish. The collar is white. Antennal eyecaps are white. The forewings are shining bronzy-brown with a rather oblique shining golden-silvery fascia beyond middle; apical area beyond this dark bronzy-brown. Hindwings are grey; in male with an expansible pencil of blackish hairs at base of costa.[1] External image Adults are on wing from April to May and again from July to August. There are two generations per year.

The larvae feed on beech (Fagus sylvatica), mining the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a corridor that does not widen much and zigzags between two lateral veins in the direction of the leaf margin.

References
  1. Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London


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