Elachista trapeziella Stainton, 1849

scarce dwarf

mine

From autumn till early spring the larva makes a quite narrow corridor with a total length of 12-16 cm, essentially running parallel to the leaf venation; the corridor may change direction 2-3 times. Generally the corridor lies about halfway the length of the leaf. In March-April this gallery abruptly gives way to an elongate blotch, that generally obliterates the original gallery. The larva may leave its mine and restart elsewhere by making a lower-surface opening in a new leaf, not far from the leaf-tip. Pupation external.

host plants

Juncaceae, monophagous

Luzula luzuloides, pilosa, sylvatica.

phenology

Larvae from autumn till April, June of the following year (Bland, 1996a).

BENELUX

BE recorded (Phegea, 2010).

NE not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2010).

LUX not recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2010).

distribution within Europe

From Fennoscandia to the Pyrenees and Italy, and from Ireland to Slovakia (Fauna Europaea, 2010).

larva

Body more or less intensely pink, with three cream-coloured length lines; head and prothoracic plate black.

pupa

See Patočka (1999a), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a).

synonyms

Biselachista trapeziella.

references

Bland (1986a, 1996a), Bland & Knill-Jones (1988a), Bland & Rotheray (2002a), Buhr (1935b), Chalmers-Hunt (1986a), Parenti & Pizzolato (2015a), Parenti & Varalda (1994a), Patočka (1999a), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a), De Prins (1998a), Pröse (1981a), Robbins (1991a), Schmid (2011a), Schütze (1931a), Sruoga & Ivinskis (2005a), Starý (1930a), Šulcs (1996a), Szőcs (1977a), Wörz (1957a).