Bucculatrix bechsteinella

Bucculatrix bechsteinella is a moth of the family Bucculatricidae. It was described by Johann Matthäus Bechstein and Georg Ludwig Scharfenberg in 1805. It is found in most of Europe, except Greece and Bulgaria.

Bucculatrix bechsteinella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Bucculatricidae
Genus:	Bucculatrix
Species:	B. bechsteinella
Binomial name
Bucculatrix bechsteinella (Bechstein & Scharfenberg, 1805)[1]
Synonyms
Tinea bechsteinella Bechstein & Scharfenberg, 1805 Lyonetia crataegi Zeller, 1839 Bucculatrix crataegi Elachista crataegifoliella Duponchel, 1843

The wingspan is 7–9 mm.[2] The head is pale fuscous, mixed in middle with blackish. Forewings are brownish-whitish, irrorated with dark fuscous ; a more or less distinct dark streak along fold from base to near middle, often incomplete ; three oblique costal spots between 1/3 and apex, and a median dorsal spot suffusedly dark fuscous : second discal stigma forming a short blackish dash. Hindwings are grey.The larva is dull green, more yellowish above ; dorsal line darker ; dots yellowish and the head pale brown[3] Adults are on wing from mid-May to mid-August.[4] The larvae feed on Amelanchier, Chaenomeles, Cotoneaster, Crataegus douglasii, Crataegus laevigata, Crataegus monogyna, Cydonia oblonga, Malus domestica, Mespilus germanica, Prunus insititia, Prunus spinosa, Pyracantha coccinea, Pyrus communis, Sorbus aria, Sorbus aucuparia and Sorbus torminalis. They mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine has the form of a small, hook-like corridor, mostly in a vein axle. The frass is deposited in a thick central line. The larvae soon leave their mine and resumes feeding living freely on the leaf.[5] Larvae can be found from June to August. They are greenish yellow with a darker head. Pupation takes place in a white, ribbed cocoon on detritus.