:''The name ''Agriphila inquinatella'' has been misapplied to some related species in the past; see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor *Bottom (disambiguation) Bottom may refer to: Anatomy and sex * Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...

for details.'' ''Agriphila inquinatella'' is a small

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 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 is found in Europe, around the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

area to

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...

, and in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. The type locality is in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Three

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are accepted today: * ''Agriphila inquinatella inquinatella'' (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) – most of the range * ''Agriphila inquinatella nevadensis'' (Caradja, 1910) –

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and presumably elsewhere in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

* ''Agriphila inquinatella elbursella'' (Zerny, 1939) –

Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

mountains and presumably elsewhere in the Caucasus region The adult moths fly between June and September, depending on the location. Their

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 23–29 mm. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s feed mainly on

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

grasses, such as meadow-grass species (''Poa'') or

sheep's fescue ''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 ...

(''Festuca ovina''). They can be found under

pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominant ...

s adjacent to their food plants, suggesting that they feed on the plants'

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

s. A more unusual food plant is the

Pottiales Pottiales is an order of mosses in the subclass Dicranidae. Classification The following families are recognised in ''Bryophyte Biology'': * Pottiaceae * Pleurophascaceae * Serpotortellaceae * Mitteniaceae Some other families are recogni ...

moss '' Tortula muralis''.Grabe (1942), and see references in Savela (2005)

Misidentifications involving this species

Apart from the

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

s listed, two

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

s have been misapplied to this species in the past: * ''Crambus luteellus'', used by

James Francis Stephens James Francis Stephens (16 September 1792 – 22 December 1852) was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume ''Illustrations of British Entomology'' (1846) and the ''Manual of British Beetles'' (1839). Early li ...

in 1834,

William Wood William Wood may refer to: Politicians * William Wood (MP for Berkshire), Member of Parliament (MP) for Berkshire, 1395 * William Wood (15th century MP), MP for Winchester, 1413 * William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801–1881), British state ...

in 1839, and

Stanisław Błeszyński Stanisław Błeszyński (13 August 1927 – 24 December 1969) was a Polish entomologist and lepidopterist specializing in Crambidae, the grass moths. Błeszyński worked at the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academ ...

in 1955 – actually a junior synonym of '' Pediasia luteella'' * ''Palparia rorea'', used 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 – actually a ''

lapsus In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking. Investigations In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and K ...

'' for ''Palparia rorella'', junior synonym of ''

Chrysocrambus craterellus ''Chrysocrambus craterellus'' is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It was species description, first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his 1763 ''Entomologia Carniolica''. Subspecies *''Chrysocrambus craterellus craterellus'' (C ...

craterellus'' In turn, the present species'

was erroneously used for the related moths ''

Pediasia contaminella ''Pediasia contaminella'' is a species of moth in the family Crambidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1796. It is found in almost all of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Iraq, Iran, the Kopet Dagh and Minusinsk. The wingspan is 17� ...

'' (by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1817), '' Agriphila geniculea'' (by J.F. Stephens in 1834 and W. Wood in 1839), ''

Pediasia aridella ''Pediasia aridella'' is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It was described by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1788 and is found in Europe. There are three recognised subspecies. The wingspan is 20–26 mm. The forewings are ochreous, veins ...

'' (by

Philipp Christoph Zeller Philipp Christoph Zeller (8 April 1808 – 27 March 1883) was a German entomologist. Zeller was born at Steinheim an der Murr, Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt (Oder) where Philipp ...

in 1839), and '' Agriphila brioniella'' (by

Aristide Caradja Aristide Caradja (28 September 1861 – 29 May 1955) was a Romanian entomologist and lawyer. Life Aristide Caradja was born in 1861 to the Caradja family, nobles with Greek-Byzantine origins who had serves as dignitaries in the Ottoman Empire. ...

in 1910 and Alexander Kirilow Drenowski in 1923).

Footnotes

References

* (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 105-109

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

br>PDF fulltext
* Archive

April 15, 2007.

External links

waarneming.nl

''Agriphila inquinatella''. ''UKMoths''.
Crambini Moths described in 1775 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller {{Crambini-stub