''Agonopterix arenella'' is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Depressariidae Depressariidae is a family of moths. It has formerly been treated as a subfamily of Gelechiidae, but is now recognised as a separate family, comprising about 2,300 species worldwide.Heikkilä, M. ''et al''. 2014: Morphology reinforces proposed mo ...

. It is found in all of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, except the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Agonopterix arenella a leaf of Centaurea nigra folded by larva

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 19–23 mm. The forewings are whitish ochreous, more or less suffused with fuscous and sprinkled with dark fuscous; costa spotted with dark fuscous; first discal stigma and a dot obliquely before and above it black; second indistinct, dark fuscous; a dark fuscous spot between and above these; dark fuscous terminal dots. Hindwings are pale whitish-fuscous. The larva is green, paler laterally; dorsal and subdorsal lines dark green; dots blackish; head light brownish-ochreous; 2 with two blackish spots. The larvae feed on ''

Arctium lappa ''Arctium lappa'', commonly called greater burdock, , edible burdock, lappa, beggar's buttons, thorny burr, or happy major is a Eurasian species of plants in the family Asteraceae, cultivated in gardens for its root used as a vegetable. It has b ...

'', '' Carduus'', '' Carlina'', '' Centaurea jacea'', '' Centaurea nigra'', '' Centaurea scabiosa'', ''

Cirsium vulgare ''Cirsium vulgare'', the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus ''Cirsium'', native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwes ...

'', ''

Knautia ''Knautia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan ...

'', ''

Serratula tinctoria ''Serratula tinctoria'', commonly known as dyer's plumeless saw-wort or saw-wort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a native of Europe with a thistle-like flower head. It grows in moist soil, full sun to part shade, ...

'' and ''

Sonchus ''Sonchus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles (less commonly hare thistles or hare lettuces). Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or w ...

''. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. Larvae can be found from May to early August.

References

External links

Agonopterix arenella at UKmoths
Moths described in 1775 Agonopterix Moths of Europe {{Agonopterix-stub