Pancalia leuwenhoekella 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...

 in the Cosmopterigidae

Cosmopterigidae

Cosmopterigidae is a family of insects in the Lepidoptera order. These are small moths with narrow wings whose tiny larvae feed internally on the leaves, seeds, stems, etc of their host plants. There are about 1,500 described species...

 family. It is found nearly all of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. In the east, the range extends to Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, the Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

, south-western Sibiria

Sibiria

Sibiria is a Swedish indie pop band from Östersund, signed by the record label Hybris. Founded in 2003 by guitarist Martin Abrahamsson , singer Martin Hanberg and guitarist Erik Laquist...

 and the Russian Far East

Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...

.

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 10-12 mm. Adults are on wing from April to June.

The larvae feed on Viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

species, including Viola tricolor, Viola hirta

Viola hirta

Viola hirta is a species of the plant genus Viola. It is also called Hairy violet. As with the Sweet Violet no fossil seeds of this species have been found. It is confined to the cold Temperate Zone, in Europe, N. and W. Asia, extending as far as N.-W. India...

and Viola canina

Viola canina

Viola canina is a species of the genus Viola, native to Europe, where it is found in the uplands of box hill in Dorset, heaths, fens, and moist woodlands, especially on acidic soils....

. They initially mine the leaf stem of their host plant. In this stage, frass is ejected out of the mine through a hole. Later, the larvae feed on the bast fibre

Bast fibre

Bast fibre or skin fibre is plant fibre collected from the phloem or bast surrounding the stem of certain, mainly dicotyledonous, plants. They support the conductive cells of the phloem and provide strength to the stem...

of the subterranean parts of the plant from within a silken tunnel. Pupation takes place in a cocoon made of silk and covered with sand.

Subspecies

• Pancalia leuwenhoekella leuwenhoekella
• Pancalia leuwenhoekella mandshuricella Sinev, 1985 (Russian Far East)