''Scrobipalpa atriplicella'', the goosefoot groundling moth, 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 Gelechiidae. It is found from most of Europe throughout Asia to Kamchatka 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 ...

. It is an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

in North America. 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 10–14 mm. Terminal joint of palpi as long as second. Forewings are dark fuscous, whitish-sprinkled, mixed or somewhat streaked longitudinally with pale ochreous, dorsal area lighter; a dark spot on costa at 1/4; stigmata blackish, ill-defined, first discal rather beyond plical; indistinct blackish spots on fold before and beyond plical, and in angle of a faint pale fascia at 3/4. Hindwings 1, light grey, darker terminally. The larva is greenish yellow or green; dorsal line rosy -suffused; head yellowish. There are two generations per year with adults on wing in May and again from July to August. The larvae feed on '' Atriplex laciniata'', ''

Atriplex patula ''Atriplex patula'' (spear saltbush; common orache; spear orach; spreading orach; ) is a ruderal, circumboreal species of annual herbaceous plant in the genus '' Atriplex'' naturalized in many temperate regions. Description ''Atriplex patula'' ...

'', ''

Atriplex prostrata ''Atriplex prostrata'', called the spear-leaved orache, hastate orache, thin-leaf orache, triangle orache, and fat hen, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the saltbush genus ''Atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 ...

'', '' Atriplex tatarica'', ''

Beta vulgaris ''Beta vulgaris'' (beet) is a species of flowering plant in the subfamily Betoideae of the family Amaranthaceae. Economically, it is the most important crop of the large order Caryophyllales. It has several cultivar groups: the sugar beet, of gre ...

'', '' Chenopodium album'', ''

Chenopodium ficifolium ''Chenopodium ficifolium'', the fig-leaved goosefoot or figleaf goosefoot, is a plant species in the family Amaranthaceae originally native to the Irano-Turanian floristic region. It an archaeophyte An archaeophyte is a plant species which is ...

'', '' Chenopodium hybridum'', ''

Chenopodium murale ''Chenopodiastrum murale'', (Syn. ''Chenopodium murale'') is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common names nettle-leaved goosefoot, Australian-spinach, salt-green, and sowbane. This plant is native to Europe and parts o ...

'', ''

Chenopodium quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...

'' and '' Halimione portulacoides''. The young larvae

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 is irregular corridor-like or blotch-like, it is created from within a silken tube. The mines contain little to no

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 ...

.bladmineerders.nl
/ref> The larvae have a greenish yellow body and yellowish brown head. They can be found in June and from September to October.

References

Moths described in 1841 Scrobipalpa Moths of Europe Moths of Iceland Taxa named by Josef Emanuel Fischer von Röslerstamm {{Scrobipalpa-stub