Wingspan 9 to 11 mm. One of the plain reddish brown Coleophora species.

The larva mines Elm leaves, starting with a narrow gallery running from the mid-rib along a side vein.  This ends in a roughly oval/rounded rectangular excision (c.6mm long) out of which it makes its first case. Several small mines are then made in the leaf, each with a small central hole where the case was attached.  The final case is small and often has a serrated dorsal keel.

Coleophora limosipennella early mines and excisions are very similar.  The later mines and cases are very similar to Coleophora serratella 

Adult leaf mine

When recording the early leaf mine, measure the excision and provide a backlit photograph.  Later mines and cases cannot be verified.

It occurs around the edges of woodland and other well wooded areas containing Elm, preferring saplings to mature trees.

Adults fly in June and July and occasionally come to light.

The larva constructs a case from a fragment of a leaf of the foodplant, Elm, after mining a narrow gallery.

Locally distributed throughout much of England. In the Butterfly Conservation's Microlepidoptera Report 2011 this species was classified as local.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. The Sapcote specimen of 20th June 2014 is the first record of this species for VC55.

http://www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/C.badiipennella.htm

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/gelechioidea/coleophoridae/coleophora/coleophora-badiipennella/