Coleophora salinella Stainton, 1859 Species
Last modified: April 22, 2020, 5:12 p.m.
A very rare species in Belgium, seen for the first time in our country in 2007.
Details
- Classification
- Family: Coleophoridae > Genus: Coleophora > Species: Coleophora salinella
- Vernacular names
- Melkwitte meldekokermot (NL), Sea-purslane case-bearer (EN)
- First mention in Belgium
- De Prins W. 2008b. Coleophora salinella (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae), a species new to Belgium. — Phegea 36(2): 71–72. On page 71. view page
- Status
-
Native
Distribution
Imago
The fore wings are light ochreous coloured with many little black stipples between the veins.
The antennae are ringed till 2/3 from the tip, and the tip is for 1/3 pure white.
Wingspan is 8,5–13 mm.
Museum specimens
No pictures yet!Specimens in nature
Case
The full-grown larva lives in an almost smooth, greyish-brown, trivalved, tubular silken case of 6 mm and a mouth angle of 30°–45°.
See also bladmineerders.be.
Bionomics
At first, the caterpillars are mining the leaves, later on they live on the seeds.
The larvae are active from September to October. When they are full-fed, they hibernate and pupate in June–July.
Flight periods
The adults fly in July and August.
Observed on
- Host plant (species):
- Atriplex littoralis, Atriplex prostrata and Halimione portulacoides
It lives mostly on Atriplex.
Habitat
This species is only to be found in saltmarshes.
