Ectoedemia minimella

Description

Ectoedemia minimella is a moth of the Nepticulidae family. It is found from Scandinavia and northern Russia to the Pyrenees and Italy, and from Ireland to Slovakia. The wingspan is 5.1-6.6 mm. The head of males is blackish or dark fuscous, in females it is ferruginous to yellowish. Antennal eyecaps white. The forewings are blackish, purplish-tinged and there is a somewhat shining rather oblique anteriorly subconcave whitish fascia hardly beyond the middle and sometimes interrupted. Hindwings grey. Adults are on wing from May to June. There is one generation per year. The pale greenish larvae feed on Betula nana, Betula pendula, Betula pubescens and Betula pubescens carpatica. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine consists of a short tortuous corridor, that widens into a blotch, often between two lateral veins. The frass is dispersed. Pupation takes place outside of the mine.