|
| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the plume moths (Lepidoptera-Pterophoridae and Alucitidae) |
Formerly Pterophorus
Adults. Face smooth. Labial palps ascending. Tibiae simple, or thickened with scales at the origins of the spurs (?). Wing-span 18–23 mm. Forewings conspicously cleft; 2-segmented; cleft from beyond the middle (from about 2/3); relatively plain; whitish-yellowish, partly ochreous tinged, suffused light fuscous posteriorly towards the costa. Forewings yellowish whitish, or whitish ochreous, or ochreous. The cilia light grey, costally whitish-yellow. Forewings without a blackish dot 1/3 from the base; without posterior marginal dark dots. The base of the fissure preceded by a single dark spot or mark. Forewing venation exhibiting the cell produced into points. Forewing vein 3 present (connate or stalked with 4); 8 present; 9 absent. Forewing vein 10 present. Forewing vein 10 separate. Hindwings conspicuously cleft; 3-segmented; grey. 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 July; not hibernating. Associated with herbs; Tenuinucelli; Asterales.
Larvae and pupae. The larvae found September to December, January to April; hibernating; on Compositae; Aster, Senecio, and Solidago. Feeding exposed to concealed; on flowers and on fruits.
Distribution and habitats. England. Widely distributed in England, favouring hillsides, coasts and open parts of woods. British species: H. osteodactylus.
Subfamily. Subfamily Pterophorinae.
Illustrations. • Hellinsia osteodactyla, with Capperia, Emmilina, Euleioptilus, Marasmarcha, Oidaematophorus, Ovendenia, Oxyptilus and Stenoptilia: Leech, 1886. PTEROPHORIDAE. 1, Oxyptilus pilosellae. 2, Capperia britanniodactyla. 3, Oxyptilus parvidactylus. 4, Marasmarcha lunaedactyla. 5, Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla; 6, Stenoptilia zophodactylus; 7, Stenoptilia pterodactyla. 8, Oidaematophorus lithodactyla. 9, Emmelina monodactyla. 10, Ovendenia lienigianus. 11, Euleioptilus tephradactyla. 12, Hellinsia osteodactyla. Leech, 1886. • Adaina microdactyla, Alucita, Emmelina, Euleioptilus, Hellinsia, Oidaematophorus, Ovendenia, Pselnophorus, Pterophorus: Beirne, 1952. PTEROPHORIDAE. 1, Pterophorus pentadactyla; 2, Pterophorus galactodactyla; 3, Pterophorus spilodactylus. 4, Pselnophorus heterodactyla. 5, Adaina microdactyla. 6, Ovendenia lienigienus. 7, Euleioptilus carphodactylus; 9, Euleioptilus tephradactyla. 8, Hellinsia osteodactylus. 10, Oidaematophorus lithodactyla. 11, Emmelina monodactyla. ALUCITIDAE. 12, Alucita hexadactyla. From Beirne (1952), all depicted at the same scale. • Hellinsia osteodactylus: Barrett, 1907. • Hellinsia didactylites (mainland-European): Hübner, 1813.
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’.
