Coleophora tricolor Walsingham, 1899
[Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae]


Coleophora tricolor Walsingham, 1899. Ent. mon. Mag. 35: 201.


Leaf-miner and case-bearer: The young larva eats the receptacle out of a floret of Acinos arvensis, and uses the calyce as its first case. Even before the onset of winter it switches to grasses. The larva then lives in an ochraceous, bivalved, tubular leaf case of c. 9 mm, with a mouth angle of c. 25° (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Larva: The young larva eats the receptacle out of a floret of Acinos arvensis, and uses the calyce as its first case. Even before the onset of winter it switches to grasses. The larva then lives in an ochraceous, bivalved, tubular leaf case of c. 9 mm, with a mouth angle of c. 25° (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Pupa: Details unknown.

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

Hosts in Britain:

Poaceae      
Bromopsis erecta Upright Brome Pitkin and Plant
Dactylis glomerata Cock's-foot Pitkin and Plant
Holcus lanatus Yorkshire-fog Pitkin and Plant
Koeleria macrantha Crested Hair-grass Pitkin and Plant
Phleum bertolonii Smaller Cat's-tail Pitkin and Plant
Poa pratensis Smooth Meadow-grass Pitkin and Plant

Hosts elsewhere: Unknown Poaceae. 'No grass species mentioned specifically' (Bladmineerders van Europa).

Time of year - larvae: Unknown.

Time of year - adults: Unknown.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland: Britain including West Norfolk and West Suffolk (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).

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: Unknown outside Britain.

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

Bromopsis erecta, Dactylis glomerata, Holcus lanatus, Koeleria macrantha, Phleum bertolonii, Poa pratensis

Parasitoids in Britain and elsewhere: Unknown.



External links: Search the internet:
Belgian Lepidoptera
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bladmineerders van Europa
British leafminers
Encyclopedia of Life
Fauna Europaea
NBN Gateway
UKMoths
Find using Google
Find using Google Scholar
Find images using Google


Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional
Last updated 27-Jan-2012  Brian Pitkin Top of page