Hantsmoths

Endangered (proposed as a future Red Data Book species) in one Irish and one British locality but from three widely differing types of habitat: the limestone pavement of the Burren district of Co. Clare, where it feeds on Goldenrod, especially plants growing in crevices; the coastal sandhills of the same district where it feeds on Daisy; and woodland rides in the Blean Wood complex of east Kent, where Goldenrod is the foodplant (MBGBI Vol 3). Not recorded in Hampshire or on the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan 10-12 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 Daisy and Goldenrod, living within a movable case.