Hantsmoths

Scarce on chalk downland and scrubland in southern and northern England, but absent from the Midlands. Very rarely recorded in Hampshire, where known from just a handful of sites. Not recorded from the Isle of Wight to date. Wingspan male 4.0-4.9 mm, female 3.6-5.2 mm. The imago is very similar to E. atricollis, from which distinguished by its smaller size, the more direct and more central fascia, and the paler apical cilia bounded inwardly by the dark line curving well round the apex (MBGBI Vol 1), although in most cases only separable with certainty by dissection of the genitalia; females difficult to separate from Ectoedemia spinosella. Larva mines leaves of Wild Strawberry and Barren Strawberry, in autumn, forming a contorted gallery with brown coiled frass which later becomes a blotch containing dispersed frass.

VC11 South Hampshire

VC12 North Hampshire