Last modified: Dec. 4, 2024, 3:57 p.m.
A rare but widespread species in Belgium.
Native
Wingspan 14–16 mm. It has rather long and narrow brownish black forewings, with a horseshoe-shaped whitish blotch on the dorsum. The hindwings are whitish with a dark border.
Easily attracted to the pheromone of Grapholita molesta and Pammene argyrana.
Whitish body with dark brown dots, the head is dark brown, the neck plate is the same color as the body, has dark edges on the sides and back, finely dotted in the middle, the anal valve is black at the front and black at the back whitish.
There is still a lot of uncertainty about how the larva lives. Literature states that the larva lives in hymenopteran galls or between leaves on the host plant. The larva build a cocoon into bark crevices, rotten wood, between dry leaves, in wood galls in late summer in which it hibernates and pupates.
The adults can sometimes be found on the wing in the afternoon and later come to light.
This is one of the earliest of the Olethreutinae to appear in spring. The adults fly in one generation a year from late February till late April, occasionally later.
The larva lives in hymenopteran galls on Quercus. Also recorded in Castanea vesca, but that is questionable.
It ocurs in woodland, heaths, gardens, parkland etc...