Caloptilia betulicola

Caloptilia betulicola
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Infraorder:	Heteroneura
Family:	Gracillariidae
Genus:	Caloptilia
Species:	C. betulicola
Binomial name
Caloptilia betulicola (M. Hering, 1928)[1]
Synonyms
Gracilaria betulicola M. Hering, 1928 Caloptilia dissecta (Strand, 1902) Caloptilia punctella (Strand, 1901)

Caloptilia betulicola commonly known as Red Birch Slender)^[2] is a moth of the Gracillariidae family. It is found from Scandinavia and the north of European Russia to the Pyrenees and Alps and from Ireland to Poland and Slovakia. In the east it is found up to China, Japan and the Russian Far East.

The wingspan is 14–16 millimetres (0.55–0.63 in). There are two generations per year, with adults on wing in June and July and again in September and October.^[3]

The larvae feed on Betula pendula and Betula pubecens. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts with an inconspicuous epidermal corridor. Later, a blotch is formed, that quickly develops into a tentiform mine. Generally, the mine is lower-surface, but upper-surface mines are not rare. The frass is deposited in a mass of grains in a corner of the mine. After leaving the mine, the larva moves twice. First it lives in a rolled or folded leaf margin and later in a leaf that is rolled downwards, starting from the leaf tip. Pupation takes place in a white, shining, parchment-like cocoon, that is attached to the leaf margin with silk.^[4]

References