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 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.;Sub-species
- Form fastuosella – is a more richly marked sub-species with purple spots or striations.
Eggs are laid within the leaf tissue of oak, approximately 2 mm from the leaf margin.
;Larva
The caterpillar is whitish with a pale-brown head. It lives inside the leaves of Quercus 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 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 beetle's mine is small and darker when fully formed.
Host plants include Turkey oak, sessile oak , downy oak, Pyrenean oak, pedunculate oak, northern red oak and sweet chestnut.
;Pupa
The larva forms a tough silken cocoon in the soil, which can be found from July to April.