Stigmella luteella

{{short description|Species of moth}}

{{Speciesbox

| image =

| taxon =Stigmella luteella

| authority = (Stainton, 1857)

| synonyms =

• Nepticula luteella Stainton, 1857

}}

Stigmella luteella is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It is found in all of Europe, except the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula.

Image:Stigmella luteella BE-MK-1720a.jpg

The wingspan is 4–5 mm.A small bronze-coloured moth. The antennae is filamentous, dark and barely half as long as the forewing. The innermost, greatly expanded joint is white. The head is yellow-haired, the body dark. The forewings are glistening, bronze-brown with a rather broad, silvery-white transverse band at about two-thirds of the wing. The hind wing is narrow, grey, with long fringes. Zagulajev, A.K., 1987 Nepticulidae (Stigmellidae); in G.S. Medvedev (ed.): Keys to the insects of the europaean part of the USSR, Vol.IV: Lepidoptera, part 1 (english translation), Oxonian Press Pvt.Ltd., New Dehli, 1987

The species is very similar to several other Stigmella species and cannot be determined with certainty from external appearances alone.Microscopic examination of the genitalia is required.[https://lepiforum.org/wiki/page/Stigmella_luteella lepiforum.de includes images]{{PD-notice}} Emmet, A. M., 1976. Nepticulidae. — In: J. Heath

(ed.). The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland 1: 171—267, pls. 1—7, 11, 12.

This species has larvae that mine in the leaves of Betula pendula and other birches. The species probably only has one generation each year, the adult butterflies fly in May-June. The larva makes an irregular, 3-4 centimeter long mine in the birch leaf.