Gelechiidae

35.146 Common Groundling Teleiopsis diffinis (Haworth, 1828)

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 6.5 to 7.5mm

Habitats: Acidic grassland, heathland and coastal shingle.

Habits: The moth flies in afternoon sunshine and late in the evening. It later comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva feeds on Sheep's Sorrel or Common Sorrel. Sometimes on Common Sorrel in the autumn, in a long, narrow, often sinuous mine, with sometimes more than one mine on a leaf. Otherwise on both sorrel species on the basal leaves in the autumn, either rolling the leaf margin or windowing the leaf from the underside of the leaf. The larva then overwinters and continues on the basal leaves in the spring. It then feeds from a silk gallery spun on the roots or along the stem. It has been recorded as feeding in the seed-heads of both Sheep's Sorrel and Common Sorrel. The pupa has been found in moss under the foodplant, but is reported as pupating in the feeding place in Europe. On the European mainland it is also recorded from Curled Dock and Tangier Dock.