Ectoedemia minimella

Ectoedemia minimella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is widely distributed in the Holarctic.^[1][2][3]

Ectoedemia minimella
Ectoedemia minimella, Trawscoed, North Wales
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nepticulidae
Genus:	Ectoedemia
Species:	E. minimella
Binomial name
Ectoedemia minimella (Zetterstedt, 1839)
Synonyms
Trifurcula minimella Zetterstedt, 1839 Nepticula viridicola Weber, 1937 Nepticula woolhopiella Stainton, 1887 Nepticula mediofasciella (auct.) Nepticula canadensis Braun, 1914

The wingspan is 5-6 mm.^[4] The head hair and collar are black, the eyecups white. The antennae are grey and about half the forewing length. The forewings are black with a silvery transverse band. The hindwings are grey^{[5] [6]}

Ectoedemia minimella mine Tir Stent, North Wales

The larvae are leaf miners and feed on species of birch, alder, and hazel.^[7][3] Pupation takes place outside of the mine.^[3] Adults are on wing from May to June with one generation per year.^[7]

This species was first described by Swedish naturalist Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt in 1839.^[1]