Elachistidae

38.028 Marsh Sedge-miner Elachista alpinella Stainton, 1854

Notable B

Similar species:

Forewing: 4.5 to 6mm

Habitats: Marshes and damp meadows.

Habits:

Foodplant: The larva mines a leaf of Lesser Pond-sedge, Greater Pond-sedge, Slender Tufted Sedge, Stiff Sedge or Greater Tussock-sedge. The larva forms a long narrow, gallery mine, descending from a leaf tip. In the spring it forms another very long gallery mine (up to 60cm) along the mid-rib, with a broken line of brown frass and often reaching the leaf base. The slender yellow larva is yellow-white, but red-brown after leaving the mine to pupate. The head is black-brown and the prothoracic plate has two small and widely separated, triangular, grey sclerites. It pupates within a cocoon in early July, attached to a grass stem by a silk girdle.