4.075 BF22

Etainia louisella

(Sircom, 1849)

Wingspan c.7mm.

This is one of the more spectacularly-coloured of the Nepticulidae, and one which occurs chiefly in the south and south-east of England.

The larva mines in the seeds (samaras) of field maple (Acer campestre), forming an irregular gallery commencing in the wing and concluding in the seed itself.

Adult moths are on the wing in April/May and possibly in two further generations in late summer/autumn.