Food Plant: Arctstaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry)

Egg: underside of leaf

Mine: Sept-April

Notes: Initially makes a narrow gallery mine in late autumn of the first year then overwinters in the mine. In the spring of the second year,in late April or May, it forms a blotch from which it cuts its oval case. It then mines the leaves. In late June to early August it aestivates, before feeding again and then constructing a final case by the following April. The ovum and case-bearing stage are described for the first time by Heckford & Beavan (2018). The final instar larva is shown mining the leaf.

National Status: pRDB1

Bradley No: 508

Data: 23.iii.2016, Muir of Dinnet, South Aberdeenshire, VC 92

Image:© R J Heckford

References:
Heckford RJ & Beavan SD (2018), Coleophora arctostaphyli Meder, 1934 (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae): observations on the early stages, Entomologist’s Gazette 69: 115-118
Langmaid JR, Palmer SM, Young MR (2018), A Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland
Emmet AM (1996) The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3