Food Plant: Vicia tetrasperma (Smooth Tare)

Egg: laid on an unripe seed pod

Mine: July-May

Notes: The larva feeds internally in the seed pod on the unripe seeds and then uses the pod as a case, once all the seeds have been eaten. It then attaches itself to another pod, usually at the distal end (as shown) and feeds on its unripe seeds. Several pods may be fed on in this manner. The pod used as a case turns yellow and the pods with the unripe seeds are green. This enables identification, where a yellow pod is attached to a green pod. A rare Coleophorid, discovered in coastal Essex in 1973. Formerly Coleophora fuscicornis

National Status: pRDB2

Bradley No: 520

Data: 15.vii.2015, North Essex, VC19

Image:© Stephen Rolls