Coleophora larva

We spent a very agreeable afternoon yesterday in our fields with Tony and Ina looking for day fliers and micros.  We had a productive session which included this Coleophora species on a birch leaf which Ina suggested that we brought home to breed through to identify the species.  Over the following 24 hours it has moved its feeding site three times and produced abundant frass as shown in the pictures below.  With the aid of a microscope we also made a video of the larva feeding.  To see this clip, click on the link below and then select download in the top right hand corner and then open/save.  It is a large file so may take a few minutes to download.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0l6pvi4imzohbjb/Coleophora%20sp.avi?dl=0

Carolyn & Evan