Hantsmoths

Common on grassland, roadside verges and waste ground throughout much of the British Isles. In Hampshire reported at light across much of the county, but no recent records from the Isle of Wight. Wingspan 10.5-12 mm. See below for identification criteria. Larva feeds within seedheads of White Clover, living within a movable case, and can be collected and bred through as described in MBGBI Vol 3. A photo record can be accepted only if the image shows the following features:

the basal two-fifths of the antennae should be heavily and thickly clothed in bushy, projecting bronze scales.

the rest of the antenna shaft extending past those scales must be distinctly white and sharply ringed with dark bands all the way out.

Confusion species: Coleophora deauratella also has bushy scales at the base, but the extended antenna shaft is completely unringed and dark, with only the very tip turning white. Coleophora alcyonipennella & frischella have antennae entirely lack the bushy projecting scales at the base, with smooth shafts and only turn white at the absolute tips.