''Palpita vitrealis'', common name jasmine moth or white pearl, is a 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.

Distribution

This species occurs worldwide, including

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

.Funet
In

, it is mainly found in southern Europe, but may be found further north. Fauna Europaea
/ref>Plantwise Knowledge Banl
/ref>

Description

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 of ...

of ''Palpita vitrealis'' can reach 27–31 mm. The body and the wings are translucent with a slight sheen. Eyes are large and reddish-brown. On the upper edge of the forewings is present a rather broad orange or brown border. The forewings also show two black spots in the middle. Legs are white and brown ringed.UK Moths
/ref>

Biology

These moths mainly fly from August till late October, depending on the location. They feed on nectar of various flowers, including ivy and buddleia.Catalogue of lepidoptera of Belgium
/ref> This species shows a migratory nature. The larvae are initially yellow, later becoming green. They can grow to a length of about 2 cms. They feed on the leaves of the host plants, mainly jasmine (''

Jasminum officinale ''Jasminum officinale'', known as the common jasmine or simply jasmine, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and parts of Asia, also widely naturalized. It is also known as summer jasmine, ...

''), privet (''

Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, many introduced and nat ...

'' species), ''

Forsythia ''Forsythia'' , is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae. There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. ''Forsythia'' – also one of the plant's common names – is ...

'', ''

Arbutus unedo ''Arbutus unedo'' is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruits, which bear some resemblance to the strawberry — hence the common name ...

'' and european olive (''

Olea europaea The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

''). In Africa the preferred host plants are ''

Sida rhombifolia ''Sida rhombifolia'', commonly known as arrowleaf sida, is a perennial or sometimes annual plant in the Family Malvaceae, native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Other common names include rhombus-leaved sida, Paddy's lucerne, jelly le ...

'', ''

Grewia ''Grewia'' is a large flowering plant genus in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Formerly, Grewia was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. However, these ...

'', '' Helicteres isora'', '' Schima noronhae'' and '' Randia scortechinii''. The larvae are considered a pest of olive fields, as they attack the leaves and fruits. The final instar of the larvae spins some leaves together and form a silky cocoon to pupate.

References

External links

* * * Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfil
Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa

iNaturalist

Lepinet

vitrealis Cosmopolitan moths Moths described in 1794 Taxa named by Pietro Rossi {{Palpita-stub