Bucculatrix gnaphaliella

Bucculatrix gnaphaliella is a moth of the family Bucculatricidae. It is found from Sweden and the Baltic region to the Pyrenees, Italy and Romania and from France to Russia. It was described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1833.

Leaf of Gnaphalium arenarium with mine and cocoon

Larva

Bucculatrix gnaphaliella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Bucculatricidae
Genus:	Bucculatrix
Species:	B. gnaphaliella
Binomial name
Bucculatrix gnaphaliella (Treitschke, 1833)[1]
Synonyms
Elachista gnaphaliella Treitschke, 1833

The wingspan is 8–9 mm.[2]

The larvae feed on Gnaphalium and Helichrysum arenarium. They mine the leaves of their host plant. In autumn, larvae create a thin corridor with a central frass line. In spring, they continue this mine with a much wider corridor. The larva then leaves the mine, and starts making fleck mines on the leaf underside. In the end, it bores the shoots of the host plant.[3] Larvae of the first generation can be found from autumn to May of the following year. Second generation larvae are found in July and live freely. They are pale yellow.