''Ethmia candidella'' 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 ...

in the family

Depressariidae Depressariidae is a family of moths. It has formerly been treated as a subfamily of Gelechiidae, but is now recognised as a separate family, comprising about 2,300 species worldwide.Heikkilä, M. ''et al''. 2014: Morphology reinforces proposed mo ...

. It is found in

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 ...

, southern Europe and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. This is a species present in the territory of Armenia, specifically, firsthandly observed in Yerevan in 2023 October. The larvae of subspecies ''candidella'' feed on ''

Lithospermum ''Lithospermum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Boraginaceae. The genus is distributed nearly worldwide, but most are native to the Americas and the center of diversity is in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Species are ...

'' species (including ''

Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum ''Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum'' (syn. ''Buglossoides purpurocaerulea''), the purple gromwell, is a herbaceous perennial rhizomatous plant of the genus ''Lithospermum'', belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Etymology The Latin name of the spe ...

''), ''

Cerinthe major ''Cerinthe major'', called honeywort along with other members of its genus, is an Annual plant, annual species of flowering plant in the genus ''Cerinthe'', native to the Mediterranean region (southern Europe, western Asia and northern Africa), a ...

'', ''

Borago officinalis Borage ( or ; ''Borago officinalis''), also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gard ...

'' and ''

Asperugo procumbens ''Asperugo procumbens'', known as madwort or German madwort, is the single species in the monotypic plant genus ''Asperugo''. This plant is native to Europe but has been introduced elsewhere, such as the northern half of North America. Referenc ...

'', while the larvae of subspecies ''wiltshirei'' have only been recorded on ''

''.

Subspecies

*''Ethmia candidella candidella'' (Morocco, western Algeria, Spain, southern France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Macedonia, S.Russia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Transcaspia) *''Ethmia candidella delicatella'' de Lattin, 1963 (Algeria, Tunisia) *''Ethmia candidella wiltshirei'' de Lattin, 1963 (north-western Iran) *''Ethmia candidella farinatella'' de Lattin, 1963 (Turkestan)

References

Moths described in 1908 candidella Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of Africa Taxa named by Sergei Alphéraky {{Ethmiinae-stub