''Nemapogon cloacella'', the cork moth, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of tineoid moth. It belongs to the

fungus moth Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

(Tineidae), and therein to the subfamily

Nemapogoninae Nemapogoninae is a fungus moth subfamily of the family Tineidae. It was described by Hinton in 1955. Genera * ''Archinemapogon'' * '' Dinica'' * '' Emmochlista'' * '' Gaedikeia'' * '' Hyladaula'' * ''Nemapogon'' * '' Nemaxera'' * '' Neurothaumas ...

. Its

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

''N. infimella'' was established by G.H. Heydenreich in the 1851 volume of his ''Lepidopterorum Europaeorum Catalogus Methodicus'', but many sources still attribute it to G.A.W. Herrich-Schäffer, who supposedly narrowly beat Heidenreich in (re)describing the species. But as it seems, Herrich-Schäffer was merely one of the first to use the name proposed by Heydenreich, as the volume of his ''Systematische Bearbeitung der Schmetterlinge von Europa'' where he discussed the cork moth was not published until 1853 or 1854. That all nonwithstanding, the species had been already validly described by A.H. Haworth in the 1828 volume of ''Lepidoptera Britannica''.

Description

This small moth has a wingspan of 10–18 mm. The forewings are irregularly mottled black, brown, white and grey, resembling close relatives such as the European corn moth (''N. granella''). The head has a tuft of pale yellow hairs. The antennae are wire-shaped and about two-thirds as long as the front wings. The thorax is grey. The wing fringes on the forewing are alternately grey and white. The hind wings are dark grey-brown. The larva is white to pink with a reddish-brown head. The neck plate is also reddish-brown.

Distribution and ecology

''Nemapogon cloacella'' is a widespread species, found all across the western Palaeartic and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, where it has recently been recorded from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It is reportedly absent from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but given that it occurs in all surrounding countries, this is unlikely to be correct. Its preferred

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

with a large amount of dead trees. The

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal, vespertine, or both. This is distinguished from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, where an animal is active during the hours of daylig ...

adults are on the wing throughout the summer and are typically encountered at

dusk Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall.''The Random House College Dictionary'', "dusk". At predusk, during early to intermediate stages of twilight, enou ...

but sometimes can be seen earlier in the day.

Biology

The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s feed mainly on

bracket fungi Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside (see Delimitation for exceptions). They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypor ...

. Their food spectrum has been subject to considerable dispute in the past due to confusion with the European corn moth. Some claimed that ''N. cloacella'' caterpillars eat a wide range of food –

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...

and

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

s, seeds and other vegetable material, e.g.

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

s, ''

Capsicum annuum ''Capsicum annuum'' is a species of the plant genus ''Capsicum'' native to southern North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. This species is the most common and extensively cultivated of the five domesticated capsicums. The spec ...

'' fruit,

poppyseed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

(''Papaver somniferum''),

bitter almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

s (''Prunus amygdalus amara'') or

bilberries Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrtillu ...

(''Vaccinium''), but even

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

(hence its common name) and

beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive workers ...

. Other authors stated that they were only found on the oak mazegill fungus (''Daedalea quercina''), and ascribed the wide range of foodstuffs to ''N. granella''. But as it seems, neither extreme was correct; the caterpillars do eat preferentially fungi – not only the oak mazegill but also others (e.g.

birch polypore ''Fomitopsis betulina'' (previously ''Piptoporus betulinus''), commonly known as the birch polypore, birch bracket, or razor strop, is a common bracket fungus and, as the name suggests, grows almost exclusively on birch trees. The brackets burs ...

, ''Piptoporus betulinus'') –, feeding on plant debris and similar materials when their favorite food is not available.Grabe (1942), Kimber

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

and see references in Savela (2009)

Footnotes

References

* (2009)
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Version 2.1, 2009-DEC-22. Retrieved 2010-MAY-06. * (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 105-109

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

br>PDF fulltext
*

UKmoths &ndash
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-05. *

br>Global Taxonomic Database of Tineidae (Lepidoptera)
&ndash
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-06. * (2003): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash

'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic'' Version of 2003-DEC-27. Retrieved 2010-MAY-06.

External links

lepiforum.de

{{Taxonbar">from=Q489694 Nemapogoninae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia">Moths_of_Europe.html" ;"title="Nemapogoninae Moths of Europe">Nemapogoninae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of North America