Micropterix aureatella

Micropterix aureatella is a very small moth of the family Micropterigidae, the primitive toothed-jaw moths, and it ranges across the Palearctic realm from Europe to Japan, though not into North Africa. The Austrian physician and naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli first described it in 1763 from a specimen found in Carniola, in what is now Slovenia, and gave it the name Phalaena aureatella. It was later moved to the genus Micropterix, a name that refers to the small size of the adult, and the species name aureatella refers to the golden marks on the forewing. The wingspan is only about 9 to 11 millimetres. The forewings shine bronzy purple and carry a pale golden spot towards the front edge, while the hindwings are bronzy grey. Unlike most moths, the adults have working mandibles and feed on the pollen of many flowers, especially sedges of the genus Carex. A single larva has been found among fungal threads in beech, bilberry and oak leaf litter, and the larvae are believed to feed on bilberry. The pupa has not been described. Three subspecies are recognised: the nominate form, junctella and shikotanica.