''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. 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 with ...

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, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

. 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 of ...

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

Atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and w ...

'' and '' Chenopodium'' 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