Birch casebearer

• French common name: Porte-case du bouleau
• Scientific name: Coleophora serratella (Linnaeus)
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera
• Family: Coleophoridae
• Partial list of synonyms:
  • Coleophora fuscedinella Zeller
  • Coleophora salmani Heinrich

Distribution

• British Columbia
• Eastern Canada
• Manitoba

Canadian Forest Service Publications

Birch casebearer

Diet and feeding behaviour

• Phyllophagous: Feeds on the leaves of plants.
  • Casebearer: Insects that hide under a case or a shelter made by cutting and tying pieces of leaf together with silk. They feed and move around on the leaf surface within this shelter.

Information on host(s)

Main host(s)

• Grey birch
• White birch
• Yellow birch

Photos

Adult (wingspan: 12 mm)

Thérèse Arcand

New white birch foliage attacked in the spring

Thérèse Arcand

Case opened to show larva

Thérèse Arcand

Mass of cases on white birch foliage before emergence of adult in June

Thérèse Arcand

Lateral and ventral views of pupa

Jean-Paul Laplante

White birch severely defoliated

Claude Monnier