Stigmella catharticella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in from Fennoscandia to the Pyrenees, Italy and Bulgaria, and from Ireland to Russia.
The wingspan is . The antennae are filamentous, dark and almost as long as the forewing. The innermost, greatly expanded joint is white. The head is yellow-haired, the body dark, but with two white patches of hair on the "neck". The forewings are grey, covered with strikingly coarse scales that have darker tips so that the wing appears slightly speckled. They are a white spot at the trailing edge just inside the back corner. The hind wing is narrow, grey, with long fringes.Zagulajev, A.K., 1987 Nepticulidae (Stigmellidae); in G.S. Medvedev (ed.): Keys to the insects of the europaean part of the USSR, Vol.IV: Lepidoptera, part 1 (english translation), Oxonian Press Pvt.Ltd., New Dehli, 1987 Meyrick - The head is ferruginous-orange, the collar whitish. The antennal eyecaps are whitish. The posterior tarsi are whitish, spotted with dark fuscous. The forewings are dark fuscous, faintly purple -tinged with a roundish white tornal spot; outer half of cilia white. The hindwings are grey.Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf Keys and descriptionlepiforum.de includes images
Adults are on wing from May to June and again from July to September.Emmet, A. M., 1976. Nepticulidae. — In: J. Heath (ed.). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland 1: 171—267, pls. 1—7, 11, 12.
The larvae feed on Rhamnus catharticus and is found where this shrub grows, for example by salt meadows.. They mine the leaves of their host plant, the mine forming hairpin turns in the leaf. Often there is more than one caterpillar in one leaf.. The species has two generations each year, the adult moths fly in May–June and July–August, respectively.
References Content in this edit is translated from the existing Norwegian Wikipedia article at :no:Stigmella catharticella; see its history for attribution.
External links Fauna Europaea bladmineerders.nl Swedish moths Norfolk moths Stigmella catharticella images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life