''Agonopterix umbellana'' (gorse soft shoot moth) is a

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. It is native to western Europe, but was introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in 1988 and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1990 to control '' Ulex europaeus''. 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 about 21 mm. The forewings are whitish ochreous ; veins and dorsum marked with dark fuscous lines ; first and sometimes second discal stigmata black ; terminal black dots. Hindwings pale whitish-grey, round apex sometimes interruptedly dark-edged. The larva is dull green ; dots black ; head and plate of 2 blackMeyrick, E., 1895 ''A Handbook of British Lepidoptera'' MacMillan, Londo
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Keys and description Adults are on wing from August to April. It hibernates during winter and can reappear in the early spring. The larvae feed on '' Ulex'' and '' Genista'' species within silken tubes.

References

External links

Biological Control of Gorse in Hawai'i: A program reviewUKmothsFauna Europaea
Agonopterix Moths of Europe Moths described in 1794 {{Agonopterix-stub