The green longhorn (''Adela reaumurella'') is a
lepidopteran from the
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 ...
family
Adelidae
The Adelidae or fairy longhorn moths are a family of monotrysian moths in the lepidopteran infraorder Heteroneura. The family was first described by Charles Théophile Bruand d'Uzelle in 1851. Most species have at least partially metallic pa ...
, the fairy longhorn moths.
[Funet - Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and some other life forms'']
/ref>
Distribution
''Adela reaumurella'' has a palearctic distribution. It occurs in southern North Europe, Western Europe through Central Europe to Eastern Europe. Across the temperate Palearctic the range extends to Japan. In the South, the species occurs to Sicily and Anatolia. It is missing on the Iberian Peninsula.
Habitat
These moths inhabit forests and open meadows.
Description
The wingspan of ''Adela reaumurella'' ranges from 14 to 18 millimeter.[UK Moths]
/ref> Wings have an ovoid-elongated shape with rounded apex. The upper wings of both sexes are bronzy or metallic greenish, close along the body. The hind wings are dark brown with a bronze-violet shine. The males have very long thread-shaped whitish antennas, forward-facing and reaching about four times the length of the body. They have very developed eyes and rough black hair on their heads and thorax. The females have relatively short antennas with shorter and lighter hair on their heads.[Peter Holden, Geoffrey Abbot]
RSPB Handbook of Garden Wildlife
/ref> They have also a few orange hairs between the eyes.
Biology
The flight time of these day-active moths ranges from April to June. The males are often seen in the spring sunshine forming swarms of up to 30 specimens.[Michael Chinery, Insectes de France et d'Europe occidentale, Paris, Flammarion, août 2012, 320 p. (), p. 124-125 ] If a female flies through the swarm, it is caught by a male and the mating in flight takes place. The caterpillars live among fallen leaves from birch and oak and feed on leaves remains, often ''Quercus
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...
'' species, forming mines on them. They protect themselves for the summer and winter in an oblong, brown bag-like structure of small pieces of fallen leaves.[ In this bag also the pupation takes place the following spring.]
Etymology
The name honours the French naturalist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur.
Gallery
Image: Adelidae - Adela reaumurella.JPG, ''Adela reaumurella''
Image:Adela reaumurella-06.jpg, Adults resting
Image:Adela reaumurella-07.jpg, Adults swarming
Image:Adela reaumurella BE-MK-7-295a.jpg, Mounted specimen
References
External links
Naturhistoriska riksmusset
Lepiforum.de
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133487
Adelidae
Moths described in 1758
Moths of Asia
Moths of Europe
Moths of Japan
Palearctic Lepidoptera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus