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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the plume moths (Lepidoptera-Pterophoridae and Alucitidae) |
Formerly
Adults. Face smooth. Labial palps ascending (the second segment with scales beneath tending to form a short angular apical tuft, the apical segment filiform). Tibiae thickened with scales at the origins of the spurs. Wing-span 13–14 mm. Forewings conspicously cleft; 2-segmented (the segments linear); cleft from before the middle. The lower lobe tapering distally or more or less parallel-sided. Forewings conspicuously patterned; light brown, sometimes tinged yellowish or reddish, with a black subcostal basal dot and sometimes with a whitish spot before the fissure; two slender white bars on the segments; the cilia with patches of black scales, the costal and dorsal with white bars. The costal and dorsal cilia with white bars. The base of the fissure preceded by a whitish spot, or by a blackish, subcrescentic, posteriorly white-edged mark. Forewing venation exhibiting the cell apically truncated. Forewing vein 3 absent; 8 present; 9 absent. Forewing vein 10 present, or 10 absent. Forewing vein if present, 10 out of 8. Forewing venation summary: 2 out of 4 or absent, 10 out of 8 or absent, 11 from near 8. Hindwings conspicuously cleft; 3-segmented (the segments linear); dark fuscous. Hindwings differently coloured from the forewings. Hindwings without large black scale-teeth in the the posterior segment. The second lobe 2-veined veins. Hindwing vein 3 absent.
Life history and botanical associations. Adults abroad June and August. Associated with herbs; Crassinucelli; Caryophyllales.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae found July, September to December, January to May; hibernating (according to Meyrick); on Droseraceae; Drosera (D. rotundifolia). Feeding exposed; on leaves (resting well camouflaged on the petioles).
Distribution and habitats. England and Ireland. Widespread in England (Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, the Fenlands, to Cheshire and Yorkshire), in boggy places where sundew grows. British species: B. paludum.
Subfamily. Subfamily Platyptilinae.
Illustrations. • Buckleria paludum, with Adaina, Alucita, Merrifieldia, Platyptilia, Pselnophorus and Pterophorus: Leech, 1886. PTEROPHORIDAE. 1, Adaina microdactyla. 2, Pselnophorus heterodactyla. 3, Pterophorus galactodactyla; 4, Pterophorus spilodactyla; 5, Merrifieldia baliodactylus. 6, Platyptilia (Gillmeria) ochrodactyla. 7, Pterophorus pentadactyla. 8, Buckleria paludum. ALUCITIDAE. 9, Alucita hexadactyla. Leech, 1896. • Amblyptilia, Agdistis, Capperia, Buckleria, Cnaemidophorus, Oxyptilus, Platyptilia: Beirne, 1952. PTEROPHORIDAE. 1, Agdistis meridionalis; 2, Agdistis bennetii. 3, Buckleria paludum. 4, Oxyptilus distans; 5, Oxyptilus pilosellae; 6, Oxyptilus parvidactylus. 7, Capperia britanniodactyla. 8, Cnaemidophorus rhododactyla. 9, Amblyptilia punctidactyla; 10, Amblyptilia acanthadactyla. 11, Platyptilia tesseradactyla; 12, Platyptilia calodactyla. From Beirne (1952), all represented to the same scale. • Buckleria paludum: 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 plume moths (Lepidoptera-Pterophoridae and Alucitidae). Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
