Species Details

ABH: 4.099

BF: 34

Family: Nepticulidae

Subfamily: Nepticulinae

Taxon: Ectoedemia occultella

=Ectoedemia argentipedella

=Ectoedemia mediofasciella

Authority: (Linnaeus, 1767)

Vernacular: Large Birch Dot

Account: Common in woodland and on heaths throughout most of Britain. Widely distributed and fairly common in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight. Wingspan male 5.1-7.5 mm, female 5.7-8.4 mm. Imago separated from most Ectoedemia species by completely jet-black colour of thorax and forewings (except fascia, but including cilia) and from Stigmella species by collar, which consists of hair-scales (lamellar scales in Stigmella), and separated from the very similar E. minimella by presence of group of white scales on underside of forewing in male, and by light coloured head in female. Adults difficult to distinguish from other Ectoedemia species, and more frequently recorded in the larval stage, when mines are relatively easy to find where they are present. Larva mines leaves of Silver Birch and Downy Birch, over-wintering as a pupa.

Accounts provided by and used with the kind permission of Mike Wall, Hampshire County Moth Recorder. These will in due course be gradually replaced with species accounts with a Surrey context.

Wingspan: male 5.1 — 7.5 mm; female 5.7 — 8.4 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 22 Jun (2007) — 22 Jun (2007)

The flight period of overwintering adults are not given. See the flight chart below the distribution map.

Foodplant: Betula sp. (a birch).

Foodplant accounts are from the HOSTS database — Natural History Museum, London, UK. (CC0).

Status: Common

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 5 — Adults unidentifiable 😖 or pending grading 🧐
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/ectoedemia-occultella/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 85

Individuals: 2

Earliest Year: 1998

Latest Year: 2025

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