Xenolechia aethiops

Xenolechia aethiops
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Gelechiidae
Genus: Xenolechia
Species: X. aethiops
Binomial name
Xenolechia aethiops
(Humphreys & Westwood, 1845)[1]
Synonyms
  • Anacampsis aethiops Humphreys & Westwood, 1845
  • Anacampsis aterrima Edleston, 1844
  • Gelechia aethiopella Doubleday, 1859
  • Gelechia squamulella Peyerimhoff, 1871
  • Gelechia quinquecristatella Chambers, 1878
  • Gelechia diffinis var. tristis Staudinger, 1879

Xenolechia aethiops is a moth of the Gelechiidae family. It is found from Ireland, Great Britain and Denmark to the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, Italy and Greece. It is also present in North Africa and Turkey and has also been reported from North America,[2] with records from Alberta, Arizona, California, Maine, Saskatchewan and Texas.[3]

A sprig of heath eaten by larva
Larva

The wingspan is about 18 mm. Adults are on wing in May and June.[4]

The larvae feed on Erica cinerea. Young larvae mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine is probably a small fleck mine. Older larva make a tunnel of silk on a twig. The silk is mixed with frass and leaf fragments. The larvae feed on the leaves from within this tunnel.[5]

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.