Caloptilia falconipennella (Hübner, 1813)
scarce alder slender
Alnus glutinosa, Belgium, Antwerp, Wilrijk: opened mine © Chris Snyers
same leaf, a few days later: the larva has made its first leaf roll
Alnus glutinosa, België, prov. Henegouwen, Chimay, Etang de Virelles © Stéphane Claerebout
Small (up to 10 mm long), lower-surface blotch near the leaf margin, with a brownish lower epidermis. The mine in fact is a tentiform mine, but so little silk is produced that the blotch hardly contracts at all. The mine is preceded by a quite short corridor, that is overrun by the later blotch.
The older larva leaves its mine and starts feeding under a flap of the leaf margin that is folded down and fixed with silk on the blade underside. Two or three such folds are made, not necessarily on the same leaf. The fact that sometimes no leaf rolls are made, but parts of the leaf are folded downwards rather makes one think of the work of a Parornix (Emmet, Watkinson & Wilson, 1985a).
Larva in May-June and August-September; hibernation as adult (O’Keefe, 1996a).
BE recorded (De Prins, 1998a; De Prins & Steeman, 2007).
NE recorded (Kuchlein & de Vos, 1999a; Microlepidoptera.nl, 2008).
LUX recorded (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
distribution within Europe
Entire Europe, except the Balkan Peninsula (Fauna Europaea, 2008).
Whitish with pale brown head (Emmet, Watkinson & Wilson, 1985a).
See Patočka (2001b), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a).
Caloptilia oneratella (Zeller, 1847) is the summer generation of falconipennella (O’Keefe, 1996a).
Ahr (1966a), Bengtsson & Johansson (2011a), Biesenbaum (2010a), SCS Brown (1947a), Buszko (1992b), Deutschmann (2010a), Emmet, Watkinson & Wilson (1985a), Hering (1957a), Huisman & Koster (1999a), Huisman, Koster, van Nieukerken & Ulenberg (2003a), Jaworski (2009a), Kuchlein & de Vos (1999a), Langohr (1984a), A & Z Laštůvka (2011a, 2014a), Maček (1999a), van Nieukerken, Gielis, Huisman, ao (1993a), O’Keeffe (1996a), Opheim (1977a), Patočka (2001b), Patočka & Turčáni (2005a), De Prins (2010a), Robbins (1991a), Roweck & Savenkov (2010a), Schütze (1931a), Skala & Zavřel (1945a), Steeman & Sierens (2019a), Szőcs (1977a).