Hantsmoths

Endangered (proposed as a future Red Data Book species) in saltmarshes on the Thames estuary, where first recorded in Essex in 1883, but not seen in Britain after 1900, until it was rediscovered on the Isle of Sheppey in 1980 (MBGBI Vol 3). Not recorded in Hampshire or on the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan 10.5-14 mm. Like many of the Coleophora, imagines are virtually impossible to identify without recourse to dissection, and the larvae, which live in cases of characteristic form and which can sometimes be found on the foodplant, may be easier to identify by comparison against a reference collection. Larva mines leaves of Sea Wormwood, living within a movable case.