Digitivalva granitella

Digitivalva granitella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Acrolepiidae
Genus: Digitivalva
Species: D. granitella
Binomial name
Digitivalva granitella
(Treitschke, 1833)
Synonyms
  • Tinea granitella Treitschke, 1833
  • Acrolepia granitella
  • Inuliphila granitella
  • Acrolepia variella Muller-Rutz, 1920

Digitivalva granitella is a moth of the Acrolepiidae family. It is found in most of Europe, except Ireland, Great Britain, Fennoscandia, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Baltic region, the western part of the Balkan Peninsula and Ukraine.[1]

The wingspan is 11–14 mm.[2] Adults are on wing from June to July and again from August to September in two generations per year. The adult overwinters and reappears the following spring.[3]

The larvae feed on Inula conzyza. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form a long and narrow corridor that starts at the midrib or at the leaf base. Later, it becomes a large, full depth blotch nearly without any frass. A larva may vacate the mine and restart elsewhere. A second mine has no initial corridor. Pupation takes place outside of the mine.[4] Larvae can be found from April to May and again from June to July.

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