Agonopterix propinquella is a species of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the family Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this....

. It is found in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 16-19 mm. Adults are on wing from September to July depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Arctium, Carduus

Carduus

Carduus is a genus of about 90 species of thistles in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa. Carduus is Latin for a thistle....

, Centaurea

Centaurea

Centaurea is a genus of between 350 and 600 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding regions are particularly species-rich...

, Cirsium arvense

Cirsium arvense

Cirsium arvense is a species of Cirsium, native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. The standard English name in its native area is Creeping Thistle.-Alternate names:...

, Cirsium vulgare

Cirsium vulgare

Cirsium vulgare is a species of the genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe , western Asia , and northwestern Africa...

, Cynara

Cynara

Cynara is a genus of about 10 species of thistle-like perennial plants in the family Asteraceae, originally from the Mediterranean region, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands....

, Mycelis muralis and Serratula

Serratula

Serratula is a genus of at least 17 species in the daisy family native to the old world. Serratula as traditionally defined contains at least two groups: one of which is basal within the subtribe Centaureinae and one of which is derived; the former group can be moved to the genus Klasea.Various...

. They initially mine

Leaf miner

Leaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...

the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a short, full depth corridor. After mining, the larva vacates the mine and continues window feeding from within a spinning along the midrib at the leaf underside. Larvae can be found from July to early August. They are apple green with a black head.