Food Plant: Luzula sylvatica (Greater wood-rush)

Egg; laid on a flower

Mine: July-October (then some continue May-August; others do not feed in their second year)

Notes: Have a complex bienniel life cycle with larvae feeding within the seedhead. In a later instar they make a case from a floret, which surrounds an ochreous case, with a distinct neck. Diapause is spent amongst fallen leaves on the ground. They may pupate in this leaf litter or crawl up tree trunks (to a height of 1.25m). The final case is 5-7mm long and is bicoloured, consisting of a darker flower bract covering two thirds with the light silken case the final third. A young larval case feeding on the seeds of Luzula sp. in late summer. Adults were reared from cases at this site and dissected to confirm the identification earlier in the year. The csae is visible on the right of the photo. The case is visible in the lower part of the upper seedhead.

Data: 28.vii.2022, Bagley Woods, Oxfordshire, VC22

Image:© Will Langdon