Mompha terminella 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...

 in the Momphidae

Momphidae

Momphidae is a family of moths. These tend to be rather small moths with a wingspan of up to 21 mm. The wings are held folded over the body at rest...

 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...

 to the Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

 and from Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 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...

. It is also found in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.
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 8-10 mm. Adults are on wing from July to August in one generation per year.

The larvae feed on Circaea alpina and Circaea lutetiana

Circaea lutetiana

Circaea lutetiana is a plant in the evening primrose family, Onagraceae.The genus name comes from the enchantress Circe of Greek mythology and the generic designation is derived from Lutetia, the Latin name for Paris. Paris at one time was known as the "Witch City"...

. They 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 starts as a long, narrow, full depth, strongly spiralled corridor. The 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...

is initially deposited in fine grains, but later in a central line. The larva leaves the mine to start elsewhere, either as a continuation of the existing corridor or in a new leaf. This new mine starts as a narrow corridor but soon widens into a large blotch. The frass is deposited in a broad band. Pupation takes place outside of the mine. Larvae can be found from mid August to mid September. They are whitish with a light brown head.