Bucculatricidae

14.006 Buckthorn Tuft Bucculatrix frangutella (Goeze, 1783)

Local

Similar species:

Forewing: 3.5 to 4mm

Habitats: Deciduous woodland rides and margins, mature hedgerows, fens and marshes.

Habits: The moth flies in the evening.

Foodplant: The larva forms a spiralling gallery mine in a leaf of Alder Buckthorn or Purging Buckthorn staining the area purple. It later eats out windows from the underside of the leaf, occasionally eating through to skeletonise the leaf. The larva pupates in a pale yellow-brown, corrugated cocoon attached to a leaf.