Scrobipalpa samadensis

Scrobipalpa samadensis, the buck's-horn groundling, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found in most of Europe and Russia (the southern Urals).[2]

Scrobipalpa samadensis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gelechiidae
Genus:	Scrobipalpa
Species:	S. samadensis
Binomial name
Scrobipalpa samadensis (Pfaffenzeller, 1870)[1]
Synonyms
Gelechia samadensis Paffenzeller, 1870 Gelechia plantaginella Stainton, 1883 Gnorimoschema plantaginella Lita plantaginella Lita brunhildae Schawerda, 1921 Lita zimmermanni Zimmermann, 1923 Lita plantaginella var. mariae Zimmermann, 1926 Lita testacella Rebel, 1935 Gelechia echo Meyrick, 1937

The wingspan is 13–15 mm (0.51–0.59 in).The head is grey, face whitish. Terminal joint of palpi as long as second. Forewings brown; veins and costa grey-whitish, suffusedly irrorated withdark fuscous; dorsum sometimes lighter; stigmata blackish, indistinct, first discal beyond plical; sometimes dark costal spots near base, or a dark central longitudinal suffusion; faint costal and tornal whitish spots at 3/4, sometimes obsolete blackish terminal spots between veins. Hindwings 1, pale grey. The larva dull yellowish; dorsal, subdorsal, and spiracular lines sometimes faintly pinkish; dots black; head brown; plate of 2 black.[3]

Adults have been recorded on wing from June to August.[4]

The larvae feed on Plantago coronopus, Plantago lanceolata and Plantago maritima. The young larvae mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a short, narrow gallery, made in the young leaves. Older larvae bore in the rhizome of their host plant.[5] The larvae have a yellowish white body with salmon coloured length lines and a blackish brown head. Mining larvae can be found in autumn. The species overwinters in the larval stage in the rhizome.