Elachista albidella Nylander, 1848

cotton-grass dwarf

mine

Corridor, 15 cm in the end, descending from the leaf tip. The mine is whitish and shallow at first, then becomes deeper, yellowish white, and more transparant. Pupation external; pupa, not in a cocoon, attached to the leaf.

host plants

Cyperaceae, Poaceae, narrowly polyphagous

Avenella flexuosa; Calamagrostis arundinacea; Carex acuta, acutiformis, riparia; Deschampsia cespitosa; Eleocharis palustris; Eriophorum angustifolium; Melica nutans; Poa palustris; Trichophorum cespitosum.

phenology

Larvae in late-April – May (Bland, 1996a; Traugott-Olsen & Nielsen, 1977a).

BENELUX

BE recorded (Phegea, 2009).

NE recorded (Kuchlein & de Vos, 1999a; Microlepidoptera.nl, 2009).

LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2009).

distribution within Europe

From Fennoscandia and northern Russia to the Pyrenees, Italy, and Hungary, and from Ireland to the Ukraine (Fauna Europaea, 2009).

larva

Light green to grey green, with a shining greyish-black head and a grey brown thoracic plate that, according to Hering (1957a), has a dull grey mark shaped like a a horse shoe.

synonyms

Biselachista albidella.

references

Baran, Mazurkiewicz & Pałka (2007a), Bland (1996a), Hering (1957a), Huisman, Kuchlein, van Nieukerken ao (1986a), Kaila, Nupponen, Junnilainen ao (2003a), Kuchlein & Donner (1993a), Kuchlein & de Vos (1999a), Parenti & Pizzolato (2015a), Parenti & Varalda (1994a), De Prins (1998a), Robbins (1991a), Schütze (1931a), Sønderup (1949a), Sruoga & Ivinskis (2005a 2011a), Szőcs (1977a), Traugott-Olsen Nielsen (1977a), Wegner (2010a), Wörz (1957a).