''Coleophora amethystinella'' 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 Coleophoridae, found in Asia and Europe.

Taxonomy

The species was previously considered to be a synonym of ''

Coleophora fuscicornis ''Coleophora fuscicornis'' is a moth of the family Coleophoridae. It is found on the Israel, Syria and Turkey. Records for Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europ ...

''.

Description

The length of the forewings is 7–8.5 mm for males and 6.5–7 mm for females. Adults are dark glossy green, with distinctive orange eyelashes, if observed closely. Adults are on wing in June in western Europe. The larvae feed on smooth tare ('' Vicia tetrasperma''). They feed within the seedpods of their host plant, living within a movable case with a length of 9–11 mm.

Distribution

The moth has a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

being found in the Mediterranean region from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It was first recorded from

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1973 and has since been found elsewhere in southern England.

References

Amethystinella Moths described in 1885 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Émile Louis Ragonot {{Coleophoridae-stub