Coleophoras at Lamby Lake

I nipped down to Lamby Lake this morning to look for Coleophora artemisicolella larval cases on Mugwort. I found some of these a couple of weeks ago just across the Rhymney in VC41, so there seemed a good chance they'd be on the VC35 side of the river too. There was plenty of Mugwort and I managed to locate a couple of cases, which are made from a hollowed out seed head and usually seen attached to another seed head, as in the photo below. If I saw two there were probably lots more I didn't spot! I think this is the first Monmouthshire record.

Coleophora artemisicolella larval case (centre) on Mugwort

I also found quite a number of larval cases of Coleophora argentula on Yarrow, these being made from silk and much easier to spot.

Coleophora argentula larval case on Yarrow seed head

Finally, a couple of the elongated silken cases of Coleophora beribenanderi were found on the leaves of Creeping Thistle.

Coleophora peribenanderi larval case on Creeping Thistle

All in all, a good morning for Coleophoras. Sorry for the poor photos - I blame bad light!


George