Hantsmoths

Proposed as a future Red Data Book species: known only from Devon, where discovered new to science in 2004 at the National Trust's Hembury Woods by Bob Heckford, for whom it is named. Wingspan male 4.2-5.3 mm, female 5.2-5.8 mm. The adult moth, which is on wing from April to May, and has been described but never photographed. The distinctive bright green larvae mine the leaves of oak (Quercus petraea, Q. robur). The mine consists of a short, highly contorted gallery, occupying a small space only, filled with black frass, later broken. The mine suddenly enlarges into an elongated blotch, with frass concentrated in two lines along the edges. The mines usually occur on saplings, seedlings or low growth and in shade.