40.002 Mompha ochraceella Copyright Martin Evans
40.002 Mompha ochraceella and Mompha epilobiella Copyright Martin Evans
Distribution map Copyright Martin Evans
Life stages table Copyright Martin Evans 40.002 Mompha ochraceella Copyright Martin Evans

Momphidae

40.002 Amber Mompha Mompha ochraceella (Curtis, 1839)

Common

Similar species: Mompha epilobiella

Forewing: 6.5 to 7.5mm

Habitats: Damp river-banks, streams and pond margins and marshland.

Habits: The moth comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva mines Great Willowherb. In late August it forms a gallery mine filled with brown frass under the bark of the stem. By the winter it has reached the root where it hibernates. In the spring a gallery is made in the lower stem. From there the lower leaves may be mined on the underside. The larva is yellow-white, while the head, prothoracic and anal plates are all pale brown. The final mine is a blister with hardly any frass against the midrib of a lower leaf (usually on the underside), where it pupates in a pale ochreous cocoon in April. There may be several cocoons in this leaf.