Coleophoridae

37.056 Cliff Case-bearer Coleophora serpylletorum Hering, 1889

pRDB1

Similar species:

Forewing: 5 to 7mm

Habitats: Sea cliffs and coastal slopes.

Habits: The moth comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva mines the leaves of Wild Thyme and Breckland Thyme. The young larva at first makes a blotch mine from which it cuts the first part of its case. It then mines another leaf from the margin and when finished adds the leaf to its case, this is repeated until October when it overwinters attached to a stem. By then it may have three mined leaves in its case. In the spring feeding continues and three or four more leaves and more silk are added to the now dark-brown case. It pupates attached to the foodplant. The final composite case is 9mm long, m.o. at a 90° angle. Mined leaves that are not used in the case turn yellow-brown and these are often at the tips of a spray of leaves and could be used to detect the presence of a larva.