''Stigmella luteella'' 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 ...

of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in all of Europe, except the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

. 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 ...

is 4–5 mm.A small bronze-coloured moth. The antennae is filamentous, dark and barely half as long as the forewing. The innermost, greatly expanded joint is white. The head is yellow-haired, the body dark. The forewings are glistening, bronze-brown with a rather broad, silvery-white transverse band at about two-thirds of the wing. The hind wing is narrow, grey, with long fringes. The species is very similar to several other Stigmella species and cannot be determined with certainty from external appearances alone.Microscopic examination of the genitalia is required. Emmet, A. M., 1976. Nepticulidae. — In: J. Heath (ed.). ''

The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland ''The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland'' (abbreviated to ''MBGBI'' or ''MOGBI'') is a multi-volume reference work on the Lepidoptera of the British Isles. The original publisher of this series was Curwen Books who published vol ...

'' 1: 171—267, pls. 1—7, 11, 12. This species has larvae that mine in the leaves of ''

Betula pendula ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

'' and other birches. The species probably only has one generation each year, the adult butterflies fly in May-June. The larva makes an irregular, 3-4 centimeter long mine in the birch leaf.

References

Content in this edit is translated from the existing Norwegian Wikipedia article at :no:Stigmella luteella; see its history for attribution.

External links

Fauna EuropaeaUKmoths''Stigmella luteella'' images
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

lepiforum.de
Nepticulidae Moths of Europe Taxa named by Henry Tibbats Stainton Moths described in 1857 {{Stigmella-stub