Caloptilia falconipennella
Encyclopedia
Caloptilia falconipennella is a moth
of the Gracillariidae
family. It is known from all of Europe
, except the Balkan Peninsula.
The wingspan
is about 13 mm. Adults are on wing in September and overwinter, reappearing in the spring.
The larva
e feed on Alnus glutinosa. They mine
the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a small lower-surface blotch near the leaf margin. The mine is in fact a tentiform mine, but so little silk is produced that the blotch hardly contracts at all. The mine is preceded by a quite short corridor, that is overrun by the later blotch. Older larvae leave the mine and start feeding under a flap of the leaf margin that is folded down and attached to the blade underside with silk. Two or three such folds are made on the same or another leaf.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Gracillariidae
Gracillariidae
Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella....
family. It is known from all of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, except the Balkan Peninsula.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is about 13 mm. Adults are on wing in September and overwinter, reappearing in the spring.
The larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e feed on Alnus glutinosa. They mine
Leaf miner
Leaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...
the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a small lower-surface blotch near the leaf margin. The mine is in fact a tentiform mine, but so little silk is produced that the blotch hardly contracts at all. The mine is preceded by a quite short corridor, that is overrun by the later blotch. Older larvae leave the mine and start feeding under a flap of the leaf margin that is folded down and attached to the blade underside with silk. Two or three such folds are made on the same or another leaf.