Tortricidae

49.120 Common Marbled Straw Aethes smeathmanniana (Fabricius, 1781)

Common

Similar species:

Forewing: 5.5 to 8.5mm

Habitats: Rough grassland on hillsides, embankments and chalk downland.

Habits: The moth is easily disturbed on warm days and flies freely in the early evening. It comes to light.

Foodplant: The larva feeds on the ripening seeds from a tube of silk in the flower and seed-heads of Yarrow, Common Knapweed, other knapweeds and Corn Chamomile. The larva overwinters in the spun tube until early May when it pupates in a silk cocoon in the leaf litter.