Coleophora niveicostella is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Coleophoridae

Coleophoridae

| name = Case-bearers| image = Coleophoridae-01 .jpg| image_width = 240px| image_caption = Adult of an unidentified case-bearer species| regnum = Animalia| phylum = Arthropoda| classis = Insecta| ordo = Lepidoptera| superfamilia = Gelechioidea...

 family. It is found from Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and from Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 to Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 11-13 mm. Adults are on wing in July.

The larvae feed on Thymus praecox

Thymus praecox

Thymus praecox is a species of thyme. A common name is Mother-of-Thyme; "creeping thyme" and "wild thyme" may be used where Thymus serpyllum, normally called thus, is not found. This thyme has a strong scent similar to Oregano. It can be used in cuisine or as an evergreen ground cover for gardens.T...

, Thymus pulegioides and Thymus serpyllum. They create a slender, brownish black, bivalved case of 7-8 mm. The oral half is tubular, while the rear part strongly laterally compressed. The mouth angle is about 30°. The case looks like a sheath case, but is in fact a composite leaf case. The larva cuts off mined leaves, after having removed the complete leaf margin: what is left is an upper and a lower epidermis, connected by the stub of the petiole. Leaves treated in this way are placed in front of the old case. Full-grown larvae can be found in mid June.