Bucculatrix nigricomella
Daisy Bent-wing
Wingspan 7 to 8 mm. A small, but fairly distinctive member of the Bucculatrix genus, with its general dark colouration with diffuse paler markings, and noticeable whitish eye-caps. The larva mines the leaves of Oxeye Daisy, making a long thin meandering gallery. Later instars leave the gallery and feed freely on the leaf.
Several species of fly make gallery mine Ox-eye Daisy leaves - check for fly maggots/puparia
Backlit photo of mine; note host.
Where Oxeye Daisy is present.
The adults have two generations, flying in April and May and again in late July and August.
The larvae mine the leaves of Oxeye Daisy
It is widely distributed over much of the British Isles, though absent in some places. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.
It appears to be uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland, where there are few records. L&R Moth Group status = D (rare or rarely recorded).
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020
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Species profile
- Common names
- Daisy Bent-wing
- Species group:
- Moths
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Family:
- Bucculatricidae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 31
- First record:
- 14/07/2003 (Skevington, Mark)
- Last record:
- 30/07/2024 (Higgott, Mike)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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