Hantsmoths

Endangered (proposed as a future Red Data Book species) on limestone and rocky ground near the sea on the Great Orme, Caernarvonshire, where it was first recorded in Britain, the Lizard area in west Cornwall and east Kent (MBGBI Vol 3). Not recorded in Hampshire or on the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan 10-15 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 Wild Thyme, living within a movable case.