''Aspilapteryx tringipennella'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Gracillariidae Gracillariidae is an important family of insects in the order Lepidoptera and the principal family of leaf miners that includes several economic, horticultural or recently invasive pest species such as the horse-chestnut leaf miner, ''Cameraria ...

. It is known from all of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 10–13 mm. Forewings pale greyish ochreous to light ochreous-yellow ; an ill-defined white costal streak from base to near apex ; subcostal and median longitudinal rows of black dots, and sometimes two or three on fold. Hindwings grey. There are two generations per year, with adults on wing in May and again in August. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on ''

Plantago lanceolata ''Plantago lanceolata'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on c ...

'' and '' Plantago maritima''. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a long, tortuous, lower-surface (but sometimes upper-surface) epidermal, silvery corridor. After a moult the larva works itself to the upper surface of the leaf and begins to make a blotch and soon after a tentiform mine running along the midrib. The mine contracts very strongly, causing the epidermis to develop strong folds, and the leaf to double, almost concealing the mine. Shortly before pupation the larva eats a window in the floor of the mine, leaving only the lower epidermis intact. The pupa is made in a white cocoon within the mine. After hibernation, the larvae generally leave the mine and start a new tentiform mine elsewhere

References

Aspilapteryx Moths of Europe Moths described in 1839 {{Gracillariinae-stub