Lampronia fuscatella

L. fuscatella (Tengström)

Adult Characteristics

Depicted in Heath & Pelham-Clinton (1976). Wingspan 14-18 mm. Head orange or yellow. Forewing shining dark gray, sometimes with a purplish tinge. Hindwings of same color, without tinge.

Comparison with similar species

Somewhat similar to flavifrontella, which differs in being smaller and paler.

Host, oviposition, and larval feeding habits

Oviposition has not been observed, but by the time birch leaves have fallen the larvae can be found in roughly spherical galls on 3-13 mm thick twigs of Betula species. The galls are usually found at adjacent nodes, and are mostly found 1-1.5 m above the ground. The larva overwinters in the gall, creates an operculum in the spring, and pupates inside a thick white cocoon inside the gall as well. The larva is subject to parasitism. The adult ememges in early summer.

Geographic distribution

A west Palaearctic species spread from the British Isles through North and Central Europe to Russia west of the Urals.

Habitat

Not reported.

References

Heath, J. & E.C. Pelham-Clinton. 1976. The moths and butterflies
          of Great Britain and Ireland, vol I: Incurvariidae.  
          Blackwell Scientific Press and Curwen Press.

Holotype in ?.

About this page

Olle Pellmyr
E-mail: pellmyr@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.
Dept of Biology, Vanderbilt University, Box 1812-B Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Title illustration: To be obtained