''Euchromius ocellea'', the necklace veneer or belted grass-veneer,
is a cosmopolitan
migratory 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 ...
, 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. It has
Hodges number
A MONA number (short for Moths of North America), or Hodges number after Ronald W. Hodges, is part of a numbering system for North American moths found north of Mexico in the Continental United States and Canada, as well as the island of Greenla ...
5454.
Distribution
The species has a cosmopolitan distribution.
It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions,
while it is a rare migrant in some other parts of its range, such as the UK
and the Netherlands.
Description and biology
Larva
Larvae of ''Euchromius ocellea'' have a white body with amber pinacula and a pale amber head, and grow to a length of 18–20 mm.
They feed on maize (''
Zea mays
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
'') and sorghum (''
Sorghum bicolor
''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a Poaceae, grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food for humans, animal feed, and ethan ...
'').
Imago
''Euchromius ocellea'' has a
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 ...
of 13–27 mm.
The ground colour of the forewings was given by Schouten as creamy white with a dense suffusion of ochreous to dark brown scales;
while Goater described it as pale greyish ochreous.
The forewings have a number of markings, including two medial bands, a subterminal line, a white patch near the terminal area, and a number of black dots in the terminal area.
Goater additionally mentions fine silver streaking on the entire wing; golden metallic spots near the black terminal dots; and, in male specimens, a semi-transparant patch on the basal side of the cell.
Schouten makes mention of a yellowish spot in the posterior area in some specimens.
The fringe is white with two lines, either brown
or black.
In southern Africa, adults are on wing from October to April. In eastern Africa there seem to be two flight periods with adults on wing from November to February and again from June to July. In western Africa the flight period ranges from November to March.
References
External links
*
UKmoths
Crambinae
Cosmopolitan moths
Moths described in 1811
Moths of Africa
Moths of Europe
Taxa named by Adrian Hardy Haworth
{{Crambinae-stub