''Elachista rufocinerea'' 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

Elachistidae The Elachistidae (grass-miner moths) are a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. Some authors lump about 3,300 species in eight subfamilies here, but this arrangement almost certainly results in a massively paraphyletic and comp ...

found in

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. 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 o ...

is . The head is whitish. Forewings white, in male densely irrorated with brown, in female more. thinly with ochreous. Hindwings in male dark grey, in female grey. The moth flies from April to May depending on the location. The larvae feed on various grasses, primarily, false oat-grass (''

Arrhenatherum elatius ''Arrhenatherum elatius'', with the common names bulbous oat grass, false oat-grass, tall oat-grass, tall meadow oat, onion couch and tuber oat-grass, is a species of perennial grass, native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa. This bun ...

''), tall fescue (''

Festuca arundinacea ''Festuca arundinacea'' ( syn., ''Schedonorus arundinaceus'' and ''Lolium arundinaceum'') is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage g ...

'') and creeping soft grass ('' Holcus mollis''). The mine is flat and translucent and can run either up or down. They are dirty yellow, but grey green above. The head is brown. Larvae can be found in early spring.

References

External links

Lepidoptera of Belgium

rufocinerea Leaf miners Moths described in 1828 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Adrian Hardy Haworth {{Elachista-stub