Hantsmoths

Common in rough grassland, waste ground, woodland rides, damp woodland, marshes, river-banks and other damp areas throughout much of the British Isles. In Hampshire fairly well-distributed, with the usual concentration of records in the south-east, probably under-recorded elsewhere. First recorded on the Isle of Wight at Brighstone Down in 2009. Wingspan 11-13 mm. Like many of the Coleophora, imagines are virtually impossible to identify without recourse to dissection, and the larvae, which live in cases of characteristic form and which can sometimes be found on the foodplant, may be easier to identify by comparison against a reference collection. Larva feeds within seed capsules of Lesser Stitchwort, Common Chickweed, Common Mouse-ear and Water Chickweed, living within a movable case.