Apodia bifractella is a 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 Gelechiidae

Gelechiidae

Gelechiidae is a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied superfamily Gelechioidea, and the Gelechiidae's relationships with and delimitation against their relatives have been subject to considerable...

 family. It is found in most of 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 9-12 mm. Adults are on wing from July to August.

The larvae feed on Pulicaria dysenterica

Pulicaria dysenterica

Pulicaria dysenterica is a species of Fleabane in the daisy family. It is native to Europe and western Asia where it grows in a variety of habitats ranging from semi-arid Mediterranean woodlands to wetter situations. P. dysenterica is perennial and can form dense clusters of plants, spreading by...

, Inula conyzae and Aster tripolium

Aster tripolium

Aster tripolium is a plant of northern Europe that is confined in its distribution to salt marshes, estuaries and occasionally to inland salt works....

. They feed within the seedheads of their host plant. Larvae can be found from October to April. They are shaped as Diptera

Diptera

Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...

larva and are translucent off-white with a off-white head. The species overwinters in the larval stage. Pupation takes place within the seedhead.