Scythropiidae

25.001 Hawthorn Moth Scythropia crataegella (Linnaeus, 1767)

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 5 to 7mm

Habitats: Hedgerows, deciduous woodland, gardens and wherever else the foodplants are found.

Habits: The moth comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva at first makes a series of short gallery mines or small blotch mines on the leaves of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, apples or cotoneasters. It then feeds externally in a spinning under a leaf before burrowing back into the leaf to overwinter. In the spring it feeds gregariously in a web where it later pupates suspended amongst the silk.