Species Details

ABH: 6.003

BF: 154

Family: Heliozelidae

Taxon: Heliozela sericiella

=Heliozela stanneella

Authority: (Haworth, 1828)

Vernacular: Oak Cutter

Account: Local in woodland, heathland and scrubland throughout much of England and Wales; rare in Scotland and Ireland. The adults emerge in May and are sometimes to be seen flying in numbers round the lower branches of oaks and over the surrounding undergrowth (MBGBI Vol 1). Adults are day-flying, and the species is more frequently recorded in the larval stage, when mines are relatively easy to find where they are present. Larva mines twigs and leaves of Oak, over-wintering as a pupa. The mines are described in the following link:
leafmines.co.uk
.

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: 6 — 8 mm

Surrey Flight Period: 29 Mar (2012) — 23 May (2012)

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

Foodplant: Quercus petraea (Sessile Oak), Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak), Quercus sp. (an oak).

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

Status: Local

UK BAP:

WCA:

Click here to view the full geology map of Surrey.

Verification Grade: 4 — ️‼️Dissection required️‼️
Further Information: https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/heliozela-sericiella/
Statistics

* Based on adult records only.

Records: 34

Individuals: 20

Earliest Year: 2000

Latest Year: 2025

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