| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of grass moths (Pyralidae-Crambinae and Schoenobiinae) |
Crambus hortuellus Hübner
Adults. Face without a conical hairy prominence. Proboscis functional.
Wingspan 20–24 mm. Forewings creamy white more or less suffused leaden grey at least towards termen and costa, with the veins in darker specimens pale except towards the costa; pale specimens also exhibit a fine oblique postmedian line elbowed near the costa; and a pale, dark-edged, less oblique but more strongly angled subterminal line is always present, also a short streak from the costa near the apex, and three black dots on the lower half of the termen; the cilia golden-metallic. The fringe glistening-metallic. Forewing apices fairly pointed; termen non-sinuate. Ground colour of the forewings light to dark brown, or ochreous. Forewings inconspicuously patterned to conspicuously patterned with contrasting colours. The patterning fairly complex; comprising both longitudinal streaking and transverse markings. Forewings without a median line; more or less transversely dark-lined towards the termen; the subterminal lines not white-edged; without a strong white median streak; without conspicuous white marks at or near the apex. Forewing vein 7 arising from vein 8. Hindwings pale fuscous, or pale grey, or dark grey; plain; dark or pale fuscous, unmarked unless the veins are somewhat darker, with golden-metallic cilia.
Distribution and habitats. England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Occurring in coastal locations and inland. In wet places, mesophytic habitats, and dry places (wherever grass grows). British species: C. culmella. Adults abroad June, July, and August; hibernating (in a cocoon at ground level, where they pupate in the spring).
Larvae. Larvae feeding on monocots; Poaceae (on the culms of various grasses, without forming silken galleries).
Subfamily. Crambinae.
General comments. Often abundant, and sometimes a pest in upland pastures.
Illustrations. • Chrysoteuchia culmella, with Euchromius and Pyralidae-Nymphulinae: Leech, 1886. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Chrysoteuchia culmella (~hortuella). 2, Euchromius ocellea. PYRALIDAE-NYMPHULINAE. 3, Anerastia lotella. PYRALIDAE-PHYCITINAE. 4, Pima boisduvaliella. PYRALIDAE-GALLERIINAE. 5, Oncocera semirubella. PYRALIDAE-PHYCITINAE. 6, Myelois circumvoluta. 7 and 9, Apomyelois ceratoniae. 8, Myelois cirrigerella. 10, Nyctegretis achatinella. 11, Homoeosoma sinuella; 12, Homoeosoma nimbella. 13, Phycitodes saxicola. 14, Homoeosoma nebulella. Leech, 1886. • Chrysoteuchia culmella, varieties: Barrett. • Forms of C. culmella (Hübner, 1796–1813). Hübner's illustrations (1796–1813) of the forms on which he based several species, now all referred to C. culmella. See accompanying document for nomenclatural details. • Chrysoteuchia: neuration.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of grass moths (Pyralidae-Crambinae and Schoenobiinae). Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
