''Agriphila geniculea'', the elbow-striped grass-veneer, 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

Crambidae The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

. It was first described by

Adrian Hardy Haworth Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...

in 1811.

Subspecies

* ''Agriphila geniculea geniculea'' (Haworth, 1811) (Europe, Algeria) * ''Agriphila geniculea andalusiella'' (Caradja, 1910) (Spain, southern France, southern Italy, north-western Africa)

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in most of Europe and parts of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. It usually occurs in dry pastures, grassy area, sand-dunes, gardens and grassland."63.095 BF1309 ''Agriphila geniculea'' (Haworth, 1811)"
. ''UKMoths''. Retrieved November 28, 2017.

Description

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 20–26 mm. The forewings usually show two strongly curved cross-lines, but sometimes these lines are not visible. This species is very similar to '' Agriphila tolli'' and ''

Agriphila inquinatella :''The name ''Agriphila inquinatella'' has been misapplied to some related species in the past; see below for details.'' ''Agriphila inquinatella'' is a small moth species of the family Crambidae. It is found in Europe, around the Caucasus area t ...

''. It can be distinguished from the first on the basis of the higher distance that separates said cross-lines.G. Doremi
/ref> Moreover, in ''A. geniculea'' the forewings are crossed by a couple of chevrons, while ''A. inquinatella'' is longitudinally variably streaked.

Biology

The species has one generation. The moth flies at dusk from July to October depending on the location. When disturbed they come to light. The larvae can be found from late September to early May, as they winter in the larval stage. They feed within stems of ''

Festuca ovina ''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla''). General description It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pastur ...

'' and various other grasses. They inhabit silken galleries, camouflaged with excrement, at the base of small grasses. Sometimes they leave these galleries and curl themselves tightly in a coil along the stem-bases of grasses.Lepidoptera of Belgium
/ref>

References

* Goater, B. (1986) ''British Pyralid Moths'', Colchester: Harley Books. * Kuchlein, J.H. (1993) ''De kleine vlinders'', Wageningen: Pudoc.

External links

Dyntaxa

Suffolk Moths
Crambini Moths of Africa Moths of Europe Moths described in 1811 {{Crambini-stub