Hantsmoths

Local on roadside verges, rough grassland and waste ground throughout the British Isles, as far north as Aberdeenshire. In Hampshire common in the south-east, especially in and around Botley Wood, but likely under-recorded elsewhere in both counties, particularly on the chalk where it is known from scattered locations. Wingspan 10-13 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 Creeping Thistle and Common Knapweed, living within a movable case.