Oidaematophorus lithodactyla explained

Oidaematophorus lithodactyla, also known as the dusky plume, is a moth of the family Pterophoridae found from Europe to Asia Minor and Japan. It was first described by German lepidopterist, Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1833.

Description

The wingspan is 26-.The middle tibiae are thickened with scales in the middle and at the apex. The forewings are pale brown, irregularly mixed with grey-whitish and irrorated with black. There is a blackish subcrescentic posteriorly white-edged mark before the fissure and an elongate blackish mark on costa near beyond it and some blackish marginal dots towards the apex. The cilia are dark grey, somewhat whitish-mixed. The hindwings are rather dark fuscous with a darker dot at apex of segments.[1] Diagnostic – a greyish forewing with an angled darker marking just inside the cleft.

Adults are on wing in July and August in western, central and northeastern Europe.[2]

The larvae feed on common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) and ploughman's-spikenard (Inula conyza). They initially feed in the shoots, but later feed on the leaves.[3] [4]

On 2 June 1984, larvae were found feeding on willowleaf yellowhead (Inula salicina), in Oslo.[5]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf Keys and description
  2. Web site: Oidaematophorus lithodactyla (Treitschke, 1833) . Fauna Europaea . 4 August 2020.
  3. Web site: Species feeding habits. UKMoths. October 1, 2010.
  4. British journal of entomology and natural history. 2003. 16-18. 163. PDF.
  5. Norwegian Journal of Entomology. 1984. Fauna Norvegica. Norsk zoologisk tidsskriftsentral. PDF.