Coleophoridae

37.016 Apple & Plum Case-bearer Coleophora spinella (Schrank, 1802)

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 5 to 5.5mm

Habitats: Deciduous woodland, orchards, scrub, hedgerows and other sites where the foodplants are present.

Habits: The moth is the commonest of this group of very similar species.

Foodplant: The larva initially makes a blotch mine in the autumn and uses it to start its pistol shaped composite leaf case that bends almost at a right angle. It feeds on Hawthorn or apples and sometimes Blackthorn, Sour Cherry, Pear, Rowan, Common Whitebeam and Cotoneaster. The small larva only feeds for a few days before overwintering. In the spring the larva makes a second and final trivalved tubular leaf case of about 6mm long, m.o. at a 45° angle. It usually pupates on the upper surface of a leaf on the foodplant. On the European mainland it has also been recorded feeding on Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry, Medlar and Midland Hawthorn.