Teleiodes luculella explained

Teleiodes luculella, the crescent groundling, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found from Europe to the southern Ural and Transcaucasia.^[1] The habitat consists of woodlands, including oak woodlands.^[2]

The wingspan is 9–13 mm.^[3] The head is white, mixed with black. Terminal joint of palpi shorter than second. Forewings are dark grey, mixed with black; some indistinct whitish spots towards base; a semicircular white costal blotch before middle, enclosing a blackish costal mark, and posteriorly suffused with yellow-ochreous in disc; a small whitish tornal spot, and a larger one on costa opposite. Hindwings under 1,grey. The larva is whitish green; dots black; head yellow-brown; plate of 2 yellow brown, black-marked^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

Adults are on wing from May to June.

The larvae feed on Quercus, Castanea sativa, Betula, Acer and Salix eleagnos.^[8]

Notes and References

1. et al. 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part II: list of recorded species with taxonomic notes (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa, 2367: 1–68. Preview
2. http://www.hantsmoths.org.uk/species/0774.php Hants Moths
3. http://www.microlepidoptera.nl/soorten/species.php?speciescode=330490&p=1 microlepidoptera.nl
4. Meyrick, E., 1895 A Handbook of British Lepidoptera MacMillan, London pdf Keys and description
5. Heath, J.,ed. 1976 The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. 4 Part 2
6. Langmaid, J. R., Palmer, S. M. & Young, M. R. [eds]. 2018 A Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland [3rd ed.]Reading, Berkshire. British Entomological and Natural History Society
7. https://lepiforum.org/wiki/page/Teleiodes_luculella lepiforum.de includes images
8. https://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=774 UKmoths