''Cochylichroa atricapitana'', the black-headed conch, 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 Tortricidae. It is found in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(Xinjiang) and the eastern

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

and most 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 10.5–13 mm. Very similar to ''

Cochylis dubitana ''Cochylis dubitana'', the little conch, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in China (Heilongjiang) and most of Europe. and the Caucasus. It is also found in North America, where it has been recorded from Colorado, Maine, Ontario ...

'' but differs from this in that the head and thorax are black. The forewings are white with grey or brown basal areas.There is a cross-band slightly basal to the middle (unlike many other ''Cochylis'' species this is often complete) and a distal cross-band. The hindwings are light grey-brown, slightly angular behind the apex. The larva is pale orange. Meyrick describes it - Head in male blackish, in female greyish-ochreous. Forewings with costa gently arched ; rosy -ochreous -whitish, costa and dorsum strigulated with blackish; a small dark ashy-fuscous basal patch; a spot on costa touching it, a very irregular median fascia, a narrow terminal fascia dilated or furcate on costa, and cilia brown much marked with black ; a pale greyish-ochreous cloud abovetornus. Hindwings in male whitish -grey strigulated with grey,in female grey.The larva is pale yellow, faintly reddish-tinged above; head light brown ; plate of 2 faintly brownish Julius von Kennel provides a full description. There are two generations per year with adults on wing from May to June and again in August. The larvae feed on ''

Senecio jacobaea ''Jacobaea vulgaris'', syn. ''Senecio jacobaea'', is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere. Common names inc ...

''. Larvae of the first generation first feed on the flowers and later feed in the main stem, causing a swelling. Pupation takes place in a yellowish brown cocoon within the stem. Larvae of the second generation feed in the stems and roots and overwinter. This second generation pupates in April.UKmoths
/ref> ''Cochylichroa atricapitana'' was formerly a member of the genus ''

Cochylis ''Cochylis'' is a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Tortricinae of the family Tortricidae. As a result of phylogenetic analysis, the species '' Cochylis arthuri'', '' C. atricapitana'', '' C. aurorana'', '' C. avita'', '' C. hoffmanana' ...

'', but was moved to the redefined genus ''Cochylichroa'' in 2019 as a result of phylogenetic analysis.

References

Moths described in 1852 Tortricinae Moths of Europe {{Cochylini-stub