4.084 BF24

Ectoedemia turbidella

(Zeller, 1848)

Wingspan c. 6-7mm.

A very local species, but often common where it occurs, in Cambridgeshire, Essex and Middlesex.

The larva mines the leaves of grey poplar (Populus canescens), starting from the petiole, where the egg is laid, and feeding outwards into the leaf itself. This forms a roughly triangular blotch at the base of the leaf, usually with two diverging areas of frass in a 'V' shape. Often there are two larvae mining a leaf, one on each side of the petiole.

The adult moths are greyish in ground colour with creamy white forewing patches with an orange or yellowish head tuft and whitish eyecaps. They fly in May and June and mines can be found in fallen leaves in October.