Gelechiidae

35.109 Common Thistle Miner Scrobipalpa acuminatella (Sircom, 1850)

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 5 to 6.5mm

Habitats: Almost anywhere that thistles are found.

Habits: The moth comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva mines a lower leaf of Creeping Thistle, Welted Thistle, Musk Thistle, Dwarf Thistle, Meadow Thistle, Melancholy Thistle, Marsh Thistle, Spear Thistle, Prickly Sow-thistle and on one occasion Colt's-foot. It mines an irregular blotch adjacent to the midrib of a lower leaf. It then extends the blotch with broad, full depth galleries. The frass is concentrated along the midrib, which is where the larva rests during the day. It pupates in the leaf litter. On the European mainland it is also recorded as feeding on Cabbage Thistle, Carline Thistle and probably Yellow Thistle and Alpine Thistle.