Hantsmoths

Endangered (proposed as a future Red Data Book species) and restricted in Britain to the shingle beaches of Kent between Dungeness and Hythe, where it was first discovered in 1940 (MBGBI Vol 3). Not recorded in Hampshire or on the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan 15-17 mm. Very similar to C. silenella. 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 feeds on seeds and leaves of Nottingham Catchfly, living within a movable case.