Momphidae

40.009 Rosebay Gall Mompha Mompha sturnipennella (Treitschke, 1833)

Notable B

Similar species:

Forewing: 4.5 to 6mm

Habitats: Dry wasteground, heathland and urban areas.

Habits: The moth has been recorded in a group doing a spiralling display in sunshine.

Foodplant: The larva mines a stem of Rosebay Willowherb. The larva mines the flowering part of the stem causing a gall. There are often several galls in a stem and one gall may have more than one larva. The second generation may feed in a stem or more often in a seed-pod. The larva is red, but paler between the segments. The head, divided prothoracic plate and small anal plate are brown. In July the full-fed larva bores out of the side of the gall to pupate within a white cocoon in the leaf litter.