Coleophora nepetellae Baldizzone & Nel 2014

Adult. Wingspan 22–26 mm. Head white shaded with yellow on vertex. Antenna with scape cream yellow, with thick tuft of erect, concolorous scales; flagellum white annulated with pale ochreous yellow, nearly indistinctly so on upper surface, dark brown on lower surface; basal third with elongate cream-coloured scales. Labial palp white, third article about as long as second; second article with long tuft of erect scales on ventral surface. Thorax white with a median cream yellow line; tegula cream with thin white border. Forewing with apex falcate, curvature variable; ground colour cream yellow, paler in dorsal half, costal half slightly darker from scattering of brown scales, mainly in area between median line and costa; apical portion with 4–5 short, oblique silvery striae; one fine silvery stria in subcostal area near base, widening to quarter of wing and lined with brown on costal side; second silvery stria in median area from basal third to margin; third silvery stria along anal fold and interrupted before margin; fourth silvery stria along dorsal margin, very short and inconspicuous. Fringe dark cream-coloured along costal margin and around falcate apex; on dorsal margin, fringe pale grey with a line of pale cream basally. Hindwing grey, sometimes with brownish hue, fringe coloured as in forewing. Abdomen pale dirty white. Abdominal apodemes (Fig. 8): Latero-anterior bars about twice as long as latero-posterior ones. Transverse bar long, proximal edge straight and thin, distal edge slightly convex around tergal sclerites. Tergal sclerites covered with conical spines, about 5–6× longer than wide (on T3). Male genitalia (Figs 6, 7, 11): Gnathos knob large, globose. Tegumen narrow, elongate, pedunculi slightly outwardly flared. Transtilla thin, linear. Valvula wide with rounded ventral margin. Cucullus large, markedly sclerotized, wider basally, obliquely oriented, dorsal side slightly convex and apex rounded. Phallotheca elongate-conical, ventral portion less sclerotized. Cornuti (Fig. 7) thin, tightly arranged in elongate bundle. Female genitalia (Figs 9, 13): Papillae anales markedly sclerotized, elongate. Posterior apophysis twice as long as anterior one. Sterigma conical laterally with pair of longitudinal sclerotized, outcurved bars, curvature more pronounced on outer side, distal portion of bars parallel to each other. Ostium bursae calix-shaped. Widest distal section of colliculum with small conical spines, proximal section narrowed with lateral edges more sclerotized, median lamina extended from smooth, looped section of ductus bursae to widened portion of colliculum. Ductus bursae lined with short conical spinules from anterior end of colliculum to first loop (about 4× length of sterigma); second loop without spinules (about 2× length of sterigma); anteriormost section of ductus transparent, without ornamentation. Corpus bursae ovoid with distal half tapered, signum leaf-like. L5 larva (Fig. 1): Length 9 mm. Body brown with faint brown dorsal line interrupted at segment junctions. Head shiny black. Thoracic shields shiny black; prothoracic shield wide, very finely cracked along median axis from middle to posterior edge; mesothoracic shield made up of two wide figs irregular in shape, separated by a median gap except thinly and narrowly joined anteriorly; metathoracic shield made up of two smaller figs separated by a gap, irregular in shape with denticulate inner edges. Spiracular sclerites shiny black, present on all thoracic segments: oblong on prothorax, oval on mesothorax and metathorax, largest in size on mesothorax. Thoracic legs entirely shiny black. Prolegs on A3–A6 with 5–7 crochets in two uniordinal rows. Anal fig shiny black. Anal proleg half-moon-shaped, each with 15–18 crochets. (Description based on larva from France, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Montagne de Lure, 1519 m, 31.V.2013, found on grass beside Nepeta nepetella, J. Nel leg.).