Eccopisa Explained

Eccopisa is a genus of snout moths. It was described by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1848.

Species

The genus Eccopisa is monotypic. It contains only the following species:

Etymology

The species name effractella derives from Latin effractus, meaning “broken out”.

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of Europe, including British Islands and except Fennoscandia, Ireland and Estonia. The distribution extends from west Portugal, across Central, Southern and Eastern Russia. In the south the area extends to Italy and Greece.[1] These moths mainly occur in cultivated areas of gardens and parks.[2]

Description

Eccopisa effractella can reach a wingspan of .[3] This species shows brown forewings, black or dark brown eyes and yellowish labial palps. The hind wings are pale brown. In the male, there is a cutout in half of the front edge of the hind wing.[4]

Biology

Adults fly from mid May to October,[5] with one to two generations, depending on the location.[6] These moths are nocturnal.[7] The phytophagous larvae live in groups of 7/8 specimens in spun leaves of various deciduous trees.[4] Main host plants include Malus sylvestris, Euonymus europaeus, Prunus padus, Salix and Corylus.[6] [8] They feed also on big-leaved lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) and [7] on Yponomeuta species. Usually they overwinters as a larva in a white cocoon and pupation occurs in the next spring.[6] However pupae were found sporadically in winter in oak and willow galls.[4]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. https://fauna-eu.org/cdm_dataportal/taxon/dfc6515f-e283-4e58-989b-22983387e82b Fauna Europaea
  2. https://www.gbif.org/species/1871826 GBIF
  3. Corver, S.C. Microlepidoptera.nl/
  4. http://lepiforum.eu/cgi-bin/lepiwiki.pl?Eccopisa_Effractella Lepiforum
  5. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/875979-Eccopisa-effractella iNaturalist
  6. https://projects.biodiversity.be/lepidoptera/species/6107/ Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium
  7. https://eol.org/pages/932351 EoL
  8. Ruben Meert Feeding behaviour of Eccopisa effractella larvae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)