| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of grass moths (Pyralidae-Crambinae and Schoenobiinae) |
Adults. Face with a conical hairy prominence. Proboscis functional.
Wingspan 20–24 mm. Forewings brownish ochreous, terminally sprinkled black, finely strigulated silver rendering them very glossy; two broad slightly outwardly curved, parallel transverse lines beyond the middle, and a fine strongly angled pale subterminal line which is conspicuously edged distally towards the posterior of the termen by a narrow white patch containing several oval, golden-metallic terminal spots each of which is edged basally by two or three black dots; fringe whitish, with two narrow blackish dividing lines. The fringe not glistening-metallic (?). Forewing apices rounded; termen non-sinuate (convex). Forewing of the male with a semitransparent patch in the cell towards the base. Ground colour of the forewings ochreous, or brown (light brownish-ochreous, blackish-sprinkled). Forewings inconspicuously patterned to conspicuously patterned with contrasting colours. The patterning complex (at least, on a microscopic scale); restricted to transverse markings, or comprising both longitudinal streaking and transverse markings. Forewings transversely dark-lined towards the termen; the subterminal lines conspicuously white-edged (posteriorly); without a strong white median streak; without conspicuous white marks at or near the apex. Forewing vein 7 free. Hindwings whitish, or pale grey; plain; pearly greyish-white with dark veins and a narrow brown terminal line, the fringe white.
Distribution and habitats. England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (but mainly southern: of sporadic occurrence, probably not native). British species: E. ocellea. Adults abroad January to December (found infrequently, reported more or less throughout the year but mostly January-March and September-October); hibernating.
Larvae. Larvae feeding on monocots; Poaceae (on Zea and Sorghum and probably feeding on the roots, although it has been associated with stored produce and dead vegetation).
Subfamily. Crambinae.
General comments. Either an occasional immigrant from mainland Europe, or imported with grain.
Illustrations. • Euchromius ocellea, with Chrysoteuchia and Pyralidae-Nymphulinae: Leech, 1886. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Chrysoteuchia culmella. 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. • Euchromius ocellea, with Platytes: Barrett. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Euchromius ocellea. 2, Platytes cerussella; 4, Platytes alpinella. From Barrett, 1907.
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’.
