''Elachista utonella'' is a moth of the family Elachistidae found in Asia and Europe.

Description

The wingspan is . The head is grey in the male, whitish in the female.Forewings are rather dark fuscous or ochreous-grey, pale-sprinkled,lighter in female ; plical stigma elongate, black, preceded and followed by whitish marks ; a small tornal spot, and larger triangular anteriorly dark-edged opposite costal spot white.Hindwings are dark grey.The larva is grey ; head brown ; 2 pale yellowish,with two brown spots. Dissection is necessary to separate the moth from the similar ''

Elachista albidella ''Elachista albidella'' is a moth of the family Elachistidae, described by William Nylander in 1848. Its wingspan ranges from .The head is white. Forewings are white, costa and sometimes dorsum suffused with fuscous; plical stigma large, elong ...

'' and '' Elachista eleochariella''. There is one generation per year in Great Britain, but there are possibly two generations in continental Europe. The larvae feed on lesser pond-sedge (''

Carex acutiformis ''Carex acutiformis'', the lesser pond-sedge, is a species of sedge. Description It grows up to tall, with leaves up to long and wide. Ecology It is native to parts of northern and western Europe, where it grows in moist spots in a number o ...

''), ''

Carex brizoides ''Carex brizoides'', the quaking sedge or quaking-grass sedge, is a species in the genus ''Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older boo ...

'', distant sedge (''

Carex distans ''Carex distans'', commonly known as distant sedge, is a plant species in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It is native to Europe and North Africa. It is part of a complex of similar species that occur across Eurasia. Its relatives include '' Carex ...

''), brown sedge ('' Carex disticha''), star sedge ('' Carex echinata''), '' Carex elata'', glaucous sedge (''

Carex flacca ''Carex flacca'', with common names blue sedge, gray carex, glaucous sedge, or carnation-grass, (syn. ''Carex glauca''), is a species of sedge native to parts of Europe and North Africa.

''), hairy sedge ('' Carex hirta''), ''

Carex muricata ''Carex muricata'', the rough sedge or prickly sedge (a name it shares with other species), is a species of ''Carex'' found in Europe and western Asia as far as the Himalayas. It has been introduced elsewhere. Poorly studied, ''Carex muricata'' ...

'', greater tussock-sedge (''

Carex paniculata ''Carex paniculata'', the greater tussock-sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It grows high and can be found in most of Europe (including Britain), Northwest Asia and North America North America i ...

''), ''

Carex remota ''Carex remota'', the remote sedge, is a species in the genus ''Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the f ...

'', greater pond sedge ('' Carex riparia''), spiked sedge ('' Carex spicata''), bladder sedge (''

Carex vesicaria ''Carex vesicaria'' is an essentially Holarctic species of sedge known as bladder sedge, inflated sedge, and blister sedge. It has been used to insulate footwear in Norway and among the Sami people, and for basketry in North America. Description ...

''), fescue ('' Festuca'' species), saltmarsh rush (''

Juncus gerardii ''Juncus gerardii'', commonly known as blackgrass, black needle rush or saltmarsh rush, is a flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae. Distribution ''Juncus gerardii'' is mainly a coastal species, occurring at the high tide mark on the Medit ...

'') and '' Scirus sylvaticus''. They mine the leaves of their host plant.

Destribution

''Elachista utonella'' is found from

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes ...

to the Pyrenees and Italy and from Ireland to Romania. It is also found in the Russian Far East and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

References

utonella Leaf miners Moths described in 1856 Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Moths of Asia Taxa named by Heinrich Frey {{Elachista-stub