Gelechiidae

35.158 Orange Spruce Needle-miner Coleotechnites piceaella (Kearfott, 1903)

pRDB1

Similar species:

Forewing: 5 to 6mm

Habitats: Gardens.

Habits: A North American accidental introduction, first recorded in Middlesex in 1952.

Foodplant: The larva mines several Norway Spruce needles from a hole bored at their base. The frass is ejected. There is usually a light spinning at the base of the needles, sometimes a silk gallery. The larva may also bore into young shoots and cones. It hibernates and resumes feeding in the spring. It pupates within silk at the base of a needle or in a bud. On the European mainland it has mainly been recorded feeding on Blue Spruce (usually grown as an ornamental) and occasionally on Black Spruce and Red Spruce.