Cosmopterigidae

34.004 Bulrush Down Moth Limnaecia phragmitella Stainton, 1851

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 7.5 to 10.5mm

Habitats: Marshes and fens.

Habits: The moth flies at dusk and later comes to light.

Foodplant: The young larva mines the pith of a leaf sheath of Reedmace or Lesser Reedmace. It then hibernates in the sheath, the stem or the flower spike. In the spring it feeds gregariously on the seeds in the spike, in the stems or the leaf sheaths. The down of infested spikes stays attached, hanging in woolly masses. It pupates in a dirty white cocoon in the spike or on an adjacent leaf.