Case of Coleophora orbitella on Betula pendula Image: Willem Ellis (Bladmineerders van Europa)

Leaf-miner and case-bearer: Composite leaf case. The material used to enlarge the case consists of large pieces of full depth mine, that are attached with such precision that they may seem seemless. In the course of summer an autumn two (sometimes three, according to Hering, 1927b) pieces are added. No more material is added after hibernation, causing the case in spring to be rather uniformly coloured (contrary to C. binderella, that does add an extension in spring, and is made of fresh leaf material) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

The final case is brown and is tubular with slight dorsal and ventral keels (as shown). The case is made from two leaves, with the intial leaf turning grey and the newer leaf brown (British leafminers).

Larva: Four pairs of abdominal prolegs (Sich, 1904a) (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Details unknown.

Adult: Not illustrated in UKMoths (check for update). The male and female genitalia are illustrated by the Lepidoptera Dissection Group.

Hosts in Britain:

Hosts elsewhere:

Time of year - larvae: Mid August; larvae are full grown by the end of October. Pupation only after thibernation (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including Bedfordshire, Caernarvonshire, Cheshire, East Suffolk, East Sussex, Huntingdonshire, Merionethshire, North Aberdeen, North Essex, Shropshire, South Aberdeen, South Hampshire, South Lancaster, South-west Yorkshire, Stafford, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Kent and Worcestershire (NBN Gateway - N.B. includes Watsonian Vice Counties having publicly available records that fall within or overlap the vice county border at 10km resolution or better i.e. a record for a vice county may relate to an adjacent vice county - for included datasets see NBN Grid map below).

Also recorded in the Republic of Ireland (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

NBN Grid map: Note that not all datasets on the NBN Gateway may be available on the map below. If you are an NBN Gateway registered user you can request access for missing datasets via the link 'Open interactive map in new window' below.

Distribution elsewhere: Widespread in continental Europe including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, French mainland, Germany, Hungary, Italian mainland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norwegian mainland, Poland, Russia - North, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands (Karsholt and van Nieukerken in Fauna Europaea).

NBN interactive distribution map(s) of known host species in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere:

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.

Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Gateway
UKMoths