Coleophora sternipennella

Coleophora sternipennella is a moth of the family Coleophoridae. It is found in all of Europe, except Greece and the Mediterranean islands. It is also known from the Caucasus. It occurs in steppe and desert biotopes, in wasteland and uncultivated parts of anthropogenic areas.

Coleophora sternipennella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Coleophoridae
Genus:	Coleophora
Species:	C. sternipennella
Binomial name
Coleophora sternipennella (Zetterstedt, 1839)[1]
Synonyms
List Ornix sternipennella Zetterstedt, 1839 Coleophora flavaginella Lienig & Zeller, 1846 Coleophora punctipennella Nylander, 1848 Coleophora albisquamella Herrich-Schäffer, 1854 Coleophora muehligiella Stainton, 1887 Coleophora moeniacella Stainton, 1887 (Unjustified replacement name for Coleophora muehligella Wocke, 1876) Coleophora niveistrigella Wocke, 1876

The wingspan is about 13 mm (0.51 in). Adult are on wing from July to August in western Europe.[2]

The larvae feed on Atriplex and Chenopodium species creating a tubular silken case which is 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long. The mouth angle is 20-25°. The case is roughened by sand particles giving it a greyish yellow colour. It has vague length lines. Young larvae make a mine, from where a youth case is cut. After this, some small fleck mines are made. Finally, the larvae lives in the inflorescence, feeding on the developing fruits.[3] Larvae can be found from September. They overwinter as a larva before pupating in June.