Pterophoridae

45.036 Short-winged Plume Pselnophorus heterodactyla (Müller, 1764)

pRDB1

Similar species:

Forewing: 9 to 11mm

Habitats: Dappled shade areas of large woods and shady mountain gullies.

Habits:

Foodplant: The larva feeds on Wall Lettuce or sometimes Marsh Hawk's-beard or Nipple-wort. It initially feeds on the lower side of a leaf causing noticeable blotches. It hibernates at the soil surface in a dead leaf in the leaf litter. In the spring it eats part of the way through the midrib of a leaf causing the tip to wilt and this is where it rests. It pupates on or adjacent to the foodplant.