Coleophora glitzella
Encyclopedia
Coleophora glitzella is a moth
of the Coleophoridae
family. It is found from Fennoscandia
and northern Russia
to Italy
and from Great Britain
to Romania
.
The wingspan
is 10-14 mm.
The larvae feed on Vaccinium vitis-idaea
and Vaccinium uliginosum
. Young larvae make a frass
-filled corridor, widening it into a blotch. They then cut an elongated piece of epidermis out of the upper and lower epidermis of this blotch and use it to construct the first case. In this case they overwinter. After hibernation, the larva makes a new case in the same manner. It hibernates for the second time and constructs yet another case. The case of the full-grown larva is a spathulate leaf case of 6-8 mm, composed of two elongates pieces of epidermis. The case is straight. The mouth angle is about 90°. Full-grown larvae can be found at the end of April.
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 Coleophoridae
Coleophoridae
| name = Case-bearers| image = Coleophoridae-01 .jpg| image_width = 240px| image_caption = Adult of an unidentified case-bearer species| regnum = Animalia| phylum = Arthropoda| classis = Insecta| ordo = Lepidoptera| superfamilia = Gelechioidea...
family. It is found from Fennoscandia
Fennoscandia
Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are geographic and geological terms used to describe the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia and Finland...
and northern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
to Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
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 10-14 mm.
The larvae feed on Vaccinium vitis-idaea
Vaccinium vitis-idaea
Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a short evergreen shrub in the heath family that bears edible sour fruit, native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. In the past it was seldom cultivated, but fruit was commonly collected in the wild. ...
and Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium uliginosum is a flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium.-Distribution:Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of...
. Young larvae make a frass
Frass
Frass is the fine powdery material phytophagous insects pass as waste after digesting plant parts. It causes plants to excrete chitinase due to high chitin levels, it is a natural bloom stimulant, and has high nutrient levels. Frass is known to have abundant amoeba, beneficial bacteria, and fungi...
-filled corridor, widening it into a blotch. They then cut an elongated piece of epidermis out of the upper and lower epidermis of this blotch and use it to construct the first case. In this case they overwinter. After hibernation, the larva makes a new case in the same manner. It hibernates for the second time and constructs yet another case. The case of the full-grown larva is a spathulate leaf case of 6-8 mm, composed of two elongates pieces of epidermis. The case is straight. The mouth angle is about 90°. Full-grown larvae can be found at the end of April.