Enteucha acetosae

Enteucha acetosae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nepticulidae
Genus: Enteucha
Species: E. acetosae
Binomial name
Enteucha acetosae
(Stainton, 1854)
Synonyms
  • Nepticula acetosae Stainton, 1854
  • Johanssonia acetosae (Stainton, 1854)
  • Johanssoniella acetosae (Stainton, 1854)
  • Nepticula arifoliella Klimesch, 1940

The Pygmy Sorrel Moth (Enteucha acetosae) is a moth of the Nepticulidae family. It is found from Sweden to the Pyrenees, Alps and Serbia and from Ireland to Romania.

The wingspan is 3–4 mm. There are two to three generations in western and central Europe

The larvae feed on Rumex acetosa, Rumex alpestris and Rumex acetosella. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a narrow, hardly widening corridor that makes about five whole or half circles closely around the egg. The leaf tissue around the mine is intensely reddened. There are often several mines in a single leaf. The frass is deposited in a narrow central line. Pupation takes place outside of the mine.

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