Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Gracillariidae Scientific name Phyllonorycter salictella | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Phyllonorycter Rank Species | |
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Similar Phyllonorycter ulmifoliella, Phyllonorycter pastorella, Phyllonorycter spinicolella, Phyllonorycter mespilella, Phyllonorycter comparella | ||
Phyllonorycter salictella is a moth of the Gracillariidae family. It is known from all of Europe (except the Balkan Peninsula and the Mediterranean islands), east to Russia and Japan.
The wingspan is 7–9 mm. There are two generations per year with adults on wing in May and June and again in August
The larvae feed on Salix alba, Salix babylonica, Salix daphnoides, Salix fragilis, Salix incana, Salix purpurea, Salix triandra and Salix viminalis. They mine the leaves of their host plant. They create a large, lower-surface tentiform mine, generally against the leaf margin and often low in the leaf. The lower epidermis is strongly folded and the mine is strongly contracted, causing the leaf margin to fold over the mine in a tube-like fashion. Pupation takes place in a light brown cocoon without frass, which is instead deposited in a corner of the mine.