Mompha meridionella
| Mompha meridionella | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mompha meridionella | ||||||||||||
| Koster & Sinev , 2003 |
Mompha meridionella is a butterfly ( moth ) fromthe fringed moth family (Momphidae). The name describes the southern distribution of the species in Europe.
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 11 to 12 millimeters. The head is speckled light gray and has a glossy white forehead ( frons ) and an ocher-colored to gray crown ( vertex ). The neck collar is ocher to gray. The antennae are ringed dark gray and indistinctly light, especially in the basal half. The first antennae is gray-brown dorsally and whitish ventrally . The labial palps are white. The first segment is very short, the second segment is as long as the third. The segments are ventral and light gray on the sides. The third segment has a narrow dark gray ring at the base, an irregular ocher ring in the middle and a blackish tip. The thorax and tegulae are gray-brown with a few light gray scales behind . The legs are dark gray and banded in white at the segment ends. The tibiae are banded white in the middle and at the end. The tarsi are white at the segment ends. The spurs are white.
The forewings are gray-brown and have a dark gray outer area. There is a large, light gray spot on the base of the wing, it is brightly gray-brown and does not extend to the inner edge of the wing. A white, slightly sloping band is located in front of the middle of the wing. It does not extend to the Costa loader , widens to the inner edge of the wing and is particularly speckled with gray-brown in the dorsal half. A white, inwardly sloping band is at 3/4 of the fore wing length. It is a little narrower in the middle. Black lines exist in the anal fold, in the middle area between both bandages and in the apical area behind the outer bandage. The black lines are surrounded by rust-brown lines or scales. Three small tufts with slightly protruding scales are found near the inner edge of the wing. The first tuft is 1/5 of the forewing length, the other two on the outside of the white bandages. The middle tuft has a rust-brown border on the outside. In the apical area there are two or three white, gray-brown speckled lines and a white, gray-brown speckled spot on the inner edge of the wing. The fringed scales are gray and lighter at the top. They have two dark cross lines. The hind wings are brownish gray and have gray fringed scales. The abdomen is gray dorsally , the segments are speckled brownish in front and have a light gray band behind. Ventrally , the segments have broad, shiny white bands at the back. The anus tuft is white and mixed brown.
In the males, the uncus is slender. It widens distally and has a small hook-shaped tip. The cucullus is wide at the base, narrows slightly in the middle part and then widens to a rounded tip. The saccule tapers abruptly to a blunt tip that is studded with two teeth. The gnathos is broad and distally flattened. The anellus lobes are small and rounded and have bristles at the tip. The aedeagus has a long cornutus and a group of five short and strong cornuti. Mompha meridionella differs from Mompha sturnipennella by the more parallel sides of the cucullus, the broad and abruptly tapering tip of the saccule, and the absence of a group of slender cornuti.
In females, the antevaginal lamella consists of two wedge-shaped sclerites and a very large pear-shaped sclerotization in between. The vaginal sinus is large and cup-shaped. The ductus bursae is short and almost completely covered with a large sclerotized plate. The corpus bursae is narrowed in front and has a deep indentation in the middle of the rear half. This notch is surrounded by a few toothy spots and two crescent-shaped signs. The large, pear-shaped sclerotization of the antevaginal lamella, the heavily sclerotized plate of the ductus bursae and the deep indentation in the middle of the ductus bursae are characteristic of the species.
Similar species
Mompha meridionella is closely related to Mompha sturnipennella and is distinguished by the more brownish-gray color and the stronger rust-brown lines of the black lines on the forewings.
distribution
Mompha meridionella occurs in the north of the Caucasus and in Greece .
biology
The food plants of the caterpillars are not known. It is believed that the caterpillars when eating plant galls on willowherb species ( Epilobium ) cause. Butterflies were caught in the Caucasus in late May and in Greece in late July.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e J. C. Koster, S. Yu. Sinev: Momphidae, Batrachedridae, Stathmopodidae, Agonoxenidae, Cosmopterigidae, Chrysopeleiidae . In: P. Huemer, O. Karsholt, L. Lyneborg (eds.): Microlepidoptera of Europe . 1st edition. tape 5 . Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2003, ISBN 87-88757-66-8 , pp. 40 (English).
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy
- Mompha meridionella at Fauna Europaea. Retrieved November 21, 2011