Wednesday 11 March 2015

Coleophore query

Whilst pruning my bonzais ready for spring I found 3 of these cases on oak. I've looked at MGBI, UK Moths etc (and Manley!) They don't seem to match C lutipennella or flavipennella and look nearest to ibipennella, albeit with a rather small pistol handle, which is not shown in Glamorgan in MapMate.
Any thoughts anyone? I will keep them anyway and see if I can get them through.


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3 comments:

  1. VC41Moths12 March 2015 at 08:25

    It's not really pistol shaped enough for the true pistol cases, but it may be that it is not fully grown. It looks really interesting! I'm suire it it not flavipennella or lutipennella. The only other thing to consider is that it has wandered from an adjacent foodplant to conceal it's true identity. Coleophora albitarsella for example that feeds on Ground Ivy?

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  2. GMT12 March 2015 at 10:02

    I've had C albitarsella cases on Marjoram in a garden too.

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  3. Chris Manley12 March 2015 at 14:37

    Thanks for the comments. Seems unlikely really that all three might have wandered on to the same small oak in a pot on a table. I'll try to feed them on and see what develops.

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