''Coleophora sternipennella'' 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 __NOTOC__ The Coleophoridae are a family of small moths, belonging to the huge superfamily Gelechioidea. Collectively known as case-bearers, casebearing moths or case moths, this family is represented on all continents, but the majority are foun ...

. It is found in all of Europe, except

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and the

Mediterranean islands The following is a list of islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The two main island countries in the region are Malta and Cyprus, while other countries with islands in the Mediterranean Sea include Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Croatia, ...

. It is also known from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. It occurs in steppe and desert biotopes, in wasteland and uncultivated parts of anthropogenic areas. 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 o ...

is about . Adult are on wing from July to August in western Europe. The larvae feed on '' Atriplex'' and ''

Chenopodium ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classific ...

'' species creating a tubular silken case which is long. The mouth angle is 20-25°. The case is roughened by sand particles giving it a greyish yellow colour. It has vague length lines. Young larvae make a mine, from where a youth case is cut. After this, some small fleck mines are made. Finally, the larvae lives in the inflorescence, feeding on the developing fruits. Larvae can be found from September. They overwinter as a larva before pupating in June.

References

sternipennella Leaf miners Moths described in 1839 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt {{Coleophoridae-stub