Coleophoridae

37.059 Large Gold Case-bearer Coleophora vibicella (Hübner, [1813])

pRDB2

Similar species:

Forewing: 8 to 10.5mm

Habitats: Deciduous woodland rides and rough pasture.

Habits: It is commonly parasitized. This with the decline of the foodplant may have helped increased its rarity.

Foodplant: The larva blotch mines the leaves of Dyer's Greenweed. After overwintering the larva feeds on the underside of the leaves from a small black, coiled, almost circular case. It makes small blotches that are often amalgamated into a totally mined leaf. The case is gradually increased in length by the addition of silk which soon becomes black. In June it feeds on the flowers as well as the leaves preferring the outer edges of a greenweed clump. It pupates attached to the stem of the foodplant or adjacent stems. The final shining black tubular silk case has a rolled end (which is the remnant early case) and is coated with a woolly layer. The case is the longest of any British coleophorid at 19mm long, m.o. at a 60° angle.