''Ancylis obtusana'', the small buckthorn roller, 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 Tortricidae.

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of Europe, in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, 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 ...

. These moths inhabit marginal areas of forests where host plants grow.

Description

''Ancylis obtusana'' has a wingspan of about . The forewings are red brown, with a rounded reddish patch and the costa stringulated (finely streaked) with white and brown. The hind wings are brownish. Meyrick describes it - Forewings ferruginous, costa with dark fuscous and whitish strigidae ; basal patch dark ferruginous-brown except towards costa, edge rounded, very oblique, reaching beyond middle of dorsum, followed by a grey-whitish stria broadly enlarged on costa ; central fascia dark ferruginous-brown, with strong posterior median projection, not reaching dorsum ; costal area beyond this dark ferruginous; ocellus small, broadly edged with leaden- metallic. Hind wings fuscous, darker terminally. Julius von Kennel provides a full description. Similar species are '' Ancylis comptana'' and ''

Ancylis mitterbacheriana ''Ancylis mitterbacheriana'' is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in most of Europe, except the Iberian Peninsula, most of the Balkan Peninsula and Ukraine. The wingspan is about 13–17 mm. The forewings are ferrug ...

''.GD Doremi
/ref>Keith P. Bland, J. Razowski, E.F. Hancoc
Tortricidae, part 2: Olethreutinae
/ref>

Biology

The adult moths fly from May to July. Larvae feed on alder buckthorn ('' Frangula alnus'') and buckthorn ('' Rhamnus cathartica''). They overwinter in leaves of these host plants that they spin together.

Gallery

File: Tortricidae - Ancylis obtusana.JPG, ''Ancylis obtusana'' File: Ancylis obtusana (Tortricidae sp.), Arnhem, the Netherlands - 2.jpg, ''A. obtusana'' from Arnhem, the Netherlands

Bibliography

* Erstbeschreibung: Haworth, A. H. (1803-1828): ''Lepidoptera Britannica''; sistens digestionem novam insectorum lepidopterorum quæ in Magna Britannia reperiuntur, larvarum pabulo, temporeque pascendi; expansione alarum; mensibusque volandi; synonymis atque locis observationibusque variis: I-XXXVI, 1–609. Londini (R. Taylor). * HEPPNER, J. B. (1982): Dates of selected Lepidoptera literature for the western hemisphere fauna.—''Journal of the Lepidopterologists' Society'' 36 (2): 87–111.

References

External links

Lepiforum
Tortricidae of Europe Enarmoniini Moths described in 1811 Moths of Asia {{Olethreutinae-stub