Dyseriocrania subpurpurella
Dyseriocrania subpurpurella is a diurnal moth from the family Eriocraniidae, found in most of Europe. The moth was first named by the English entomologist, Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1828. Description. The wingspan of the moth ranges from 9–14 mm. The wings are metallic gold with sapphire-blue and ruby-red dots (strigulae) and an indistinct obscurely paler dorsal spot before tornus. The hindwings are brassy-grey, posteriorly purplish-tinged and like the forewings have grey cilia. The head is ochreous-grey-whitish mixed with dark fuscous. The moths are on the wing in April and May, fly on  sunny days and come to light. On dull days they rest on the trunks and branches of oak. They do not feed. Eggs are laid within the leaf tissue of oak ("Quercus" species), approximately 2 mm from the leaf margin. The caterpillar is whitish with a pale-brown head. It lives inside the leaves of "Quercus" (oak) species making a blotch mine with ″spaghetti like″ frass from May to July. Initially the mine is a narrow corridor circa 5 mm wide and is mostly filled with granular frass. The corridor (or gallery) abruptly widens into a large. full depth. dirty -whitish blotch which is on the leaf margin. The frass within the blotch is in long threads. If several eggs are laid on the same leaf, the mines join together with several larvae in the enlarged blotch. The mine is similar to that of the beetle, "Orchestes pilosus", but the sawfly's mine is small and darker when fully formed. Host plants include Turkey oak ("Quercus cerris"), sessile oak "(Quercus petraea)", downy oak ("Quercus pubescens"), Pyrenean oak ("Quercus pyrenaica"), pedunculate oak ("Quercus robur"), northern red oak ("Quercus rubra") and sweet chestnut ("Castanea sativa"). The larva forms a tough silken cocoon  in the soil, which can be found from July to April. Distribution. The moth is has been recorded from most European countries except, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Malta and Slovenia. Etymology. The moth was originally named "Tinea subpurpurella" by Adrian Haworth, from a specimen found in Coomb Wood ["sic"], England. Originally allocated by Haworth to the genus "Tinea", which was originally raised by the Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus and means "a gnawing worm". Until recently, the moth was in the genus "Eriocrania", which was raised by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1851. "Erion" means wool and "kranion" means the  upper part of the head, which refers to the hair-scales on the top of the head. The moth is now in the genus "Dyseriocrania". The specific name refers to the purple colouration of the forewing on part of the wing.