Coleophoridae

37.023 Caledonian Case-bearer Coleophora idaeella Hofmann, 1869

pRDB2

Similar species: Coleophora vacciniella larva. This larva window feeds on the upperside of the leaf, while the C.idaeella larva makes blotch mines from the underside. However, C.idaeella pupates on the upperside.

Forewing: 5.5 to 7mm

Habitats: Open woodland, lower slopes of mountain moorland and in glens.

Habits: The moth flies in the evening.

Foodplant: The larva mines the underside of a leaf of Cowberry. Later the tricolored case is formed from three segments of leaf stacked end to end, of increasing age and decreasing size. The final bivalved composite leaf case is about 10mm long, m.o. at a 60° angle. The larva pupates attached to the upper surface of a leaf, in the second spring of the two year lifecycle. On the European mainland it has also been recorded feeding on Bilberry.