Eriocrania sparrmannella
Introduction '''''Eriocrania sparrmannella''''' also known as the '''mottled purple''' is a moth of the family Eriocraniidae, found in Europe and Japan. It was first described by the French entomologist, Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc in 1791.The specific name honours the Swedish naturalist Anders Erikson Sparrman. The larvae mine the leaves of birch (''Betula'' species).
Description The wingspan is . The head is pale grey, mixed with dark fuscous. The forewings are rather short and broad, pale shining golden and strongly and sharply strigulated with purple. There is a narrow erect dorsal spot of ground-colour before the tornus, reaching half across the wing; cilia grey, sometimes obscurely barred with ochreous-whitish. Vein 9 is absent. The hindwings are rather dark grey, towards apex purplish tinged. The larva is whitish with a brown head, sides blackish and two marks on segment 2 outlined with brown. The moth flies in April and May depending on the location, and can be found during the day flying around birch. ;OvumEggs are laid on the leaves of birch. ;LarvaLarvae are whitish with a brown head. They feed inside a leaf, starting as a linear mine near the midrib, which widens to a blotch. The frass is in long threads. They hibernate in the soil. ;PupaThe larvae pupate in a tough cocoon in the soil in the spring.
Distribution This moth is found in most of Europe and in Japan.
Etymology Bosc described the moth from a specimen found in Paris, France. He initially allocated the moth to the genus, ''Tinea'', which means – ''wings wrapped round the body so as to almost form a cylinder''. The present genus ''Eriocrani'', literally means woolly-headed, i.e. rough-haired, referring to the scales on the top of the head. The name is split with ''erion'' referring to wool and ''kranion'' the upper part of the head. The specific name honours the Swedish entomologist Anders Erikson Sparrman (1748–1820).
References
External links *  Swedish Moths* Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London  pdf  Keys and description.