Morley’s Final Catalogue: Monks Soham garden; Assington Thicks in 1899, and always frequent in Bentley Woods in May, especially abundant there in early May 1935 (Mly); Ipswich in 1930-5 (Whit.); Beccles (D); Fritton Lake in June 1937 (Baker).

Recent Status: This species is the most commonly recorded species of Nematopogon in Suffolk.

Life Style: A single brooded species that comes to light. It has been recorded from April through to July. The larvae feed on dead leaves from a portable case constructed from overlapping pieces of dead leaves. The case is flat, bivalve, tapering but rounded at each end. The larvae may take two years to develop. They pupate in the case.

Identification: The three species of Nematopogon in Suffolk, N. swammerdamella, N. schwarziellus and N. metaxella are similar. They can be distinguished as follows. N. swammerdamella is the largest at 18 to 22mm wing-span, N. schwarziellus is 14 to 18mm and N. metaxella is 13 to 17mm. M. metaxella has a white face and palps. They all have a a yellow ochre crown. N. schwarziellus shows a distinct non reticulate tornal spot and a slight dark mark/line at the end of the discal cell. In N. metaxella the tornal spot is slight and the dark mark is strong. They are usually absent in N. swammerdamella. Reticulation is variable. The relative length of the antennae to the forewing length is only really of any value for identifying male N. metaxella where it is three. Note that it is two and a half for N. swammerdamella males and is sexually dimorphic in all species which makes this character difficult beyond those two males. The size, face colour and tornal spot are the primary factors. More Info

Recorded in 35 (60%) of 58 10k Squares. First Recorded in 1899. Last Recorded in 2023. Additional Stats

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