''Perittia echiella'' 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Elachistidae. It is found on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and in

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 ...

. 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 11 mm. The larvae feed on '' Echium decaisnei'', '' Echium lusitanicum'', ''

Echium plantagineum ''Echium plantagineum'', commonly known as purple viper's-bugloss or Patterson's curse, is a species of the genus ''Echium'' native to western and southern Europe (from southern England south to Iberia and east to the Crimea), northern Africa, a ...

'', ''

Podonosma orientalis ''Podonosma orientalis'', commonly known as golden drop, is a species of flowering plant resembling a low-lying shrub of the Boraginaceae family, first described by Carl Linnaeus. It is endemic to Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean, namely, Syria ...

'' and '' Symphytum'' species. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as an undulating epidermal corridor. Later, it widens into an elliptic blotch. The blotch has two levels. A silken cocoon is attached to the roof of the upper floor. The

frass Frass refers loosely to the more or less solid excreta of insects, and to certain other related matter. Definition and etymology ''Frass'' is an informal term and accordingly it is variously used and variously defined. It is derived from the ...

is deposited in a thin, continuous pale brown line.bladmineerders.nl
/ref> Larvae can be found from March onwards.

References

Moths described in 1902 Elachistidae Moths of Europe Taxa named by Joseph de Joannis {{Elachistidae-stub