Jump to content

Cosmopterix orichalcea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cosmopterix orichalcea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Cosmopterigidae
Genus: Cosmopterix
Species:
C. orichalcea
Binomial name
Cosmopterix orichalcea
(Stainton, 1861)[1]
Synonyms
  • Cosmopteryx orichalcea Stainton, 1861
  • Cosmopteryx druryella Zeller, 1850
  • Cosmopterix singularis Sinev, 1979

Cosmopterix orichalcea is a moth of the family Cosmopterigidae. It is known from most of Europe (except the Balkan Peninsula) east to Japan.

A mined leaf blade of Festuca arundinacea
Larva

The wingspan is about 9 mm.[2] The antennae with apex and two subapical rings white. Forewings black; a large brassy-metallic basal patch, edge very oblique; a broad orange fascia beyond middle, narrowed dorsally, edged with black scales and then with narrow violet-golden-metallic fasciae; a bluish-silvery-metallic sometimes interrupted streak along upper. The larva is pale yellow; dorsal line greenish; head black plate of 2 black, bisected.[3]

Adults are on wing from August to May. Then the larva hibernates outside of the mine in a hibernaculum.

The larvae feed on Anthoxanthum odoratum, Festuca arundinacea, Hierochloe odorata, Milium species, Phalaris arundinacea and Phragmites australis. They mine the leaves of their host plant.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fauna Europaea
  2. ^ UKmoths
  3. ^ Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Keys and description
  4. ^ "bladmineerders.nl". Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2011-03-21.