Coleophoridae

37.027 Potentilla Case-bearer Coleophora potentillae Elisha, 1885

Local

Similar species:

Forewing: 4 to 5mm

Habitats: Woodland, scrub, marshes, fens, damp grassland and downland.

Habits: The moth .

Foodplant: The larva feeds on herbaceous plants mainly in the rose family, Common Rock-rose, Tormentil, Agrimony, Meadow-sweet, Salad Burnet, also brambles, Dewberry, roses, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Grey Willow and birches. The case is made of circles cut from the under surface of the leaf, below the smaller blotches. Some of the fragments are added in a way that they untidily project from the front of the case. Although similar the case does not bulge in the middle like the case of Coleophora violacea. The final case is 10mm long, m.o. at a 20° angle. The larva overwinters full-fed and pupates in the spring attached to a stem, although a few carry on feeding and pupate in June.