Cosmopterix orichalcea
Cosmopterix orichalcea Illustration from Stainton: Natural History of the Tineina
Cosmopterix orichalcea is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of the splendor butterfly ( Cosmopterigidae ).
- 5.1 Notes and references
Features
The moths have a wingspan of 8-10 millimeters. The head of golden shimmer in front and dark brown back. There are two thin white lines above the eyes. The antennae are dark brown and have two white, subapikale sections. The proximal portion is comprised of three segments, the outer of two segments. The two white portions are separated by two segments brown. The probe tip consists of about five white segments. The thorax is dark brown and has a golden center line. The tegulae are golden. The forewings are dark brown and have a broad, triangular, metallic shiny gold line pointing from the Costa loader at the wing base to wing inner edge, but does not reach. A heavily tapered yellow orange bandage extending from the Costa loader to the wing inner edge. In the apical region, there is a silver, purple tinted line. It is sometimes narrower in the middle and shimmers at the apex white. The fringe scales are dark brown. The hind wings are gray-brown. The abdomen is dorsally light brown and gray-brown on the sides with pale gold sheen. The segments have rear white bands. After The wool is mixed gray and whitish.
In the males the right brachium is spatulate, tapering distally slightly. The top is trimmed and bent slightly downward. The Valven are sickle-shaped, have a strongly concave upper edge and a strong convex bottom. The Valvellae are slightly curved. The apical half is twice as wide as the basal half. They taper distally to a blunt tip. The aedeagus is bottle-shaped, the rear end widens distally and has a small ventral flange.
In females, the rear end of the 7th sternite arcuate. The eighth segment is about one and a half times as wide as long. The ostium is round and has sclerotized on the half- perimeter edges. The sterigma is elongated oval and has a broad central ridge. The ductus bursae is about as long as the corpus bursae and has before flowing into the corpus bursae small Sklerotisierungen. He is annularly wrinkled and provided with two tiny, crescent-shaped and different sized Signa.
The caterpillars have a flattened, dark brown head, which is marked U-shaped. The crawler body is yellow and has a light brown ventrally, more or less elongate spot on each segment. The Prothorakalplatte is divided dark brown and in two irregular pieces. The Analplatte is almost colorless. The Torah calf A are light brown.
Similar Species
Cosmopterix orichalcea differs from the two similar species Cosmopterix ziegler ella and Cosmopterix schmidiella by the two white sensor sections and the large, golden line, which originates on the front wing base.
Dissemination
Cosmopterix orichalcea is widespread, with the exception of the far north in the Palearctic. The species colonized moist habitats such as river banks and Moore.
Way of life
The caterpillars develop on reed canary grass ( Phalaris arundinacea ), the ordinary sweet vernal grass ( Anthoxanthum odoratum ), pipe fescue ( Festuca arundinacea ), forest - Millet ( Milium effusum ), Fragrant sweetgrass ( Hierochloe odorata ) and Southern sweetgrass ( Hierochloe australis). The species probably forms two generations per year. The caterpillars live June-July and August-September. They nate in the leaves. The mine begins as a straight burrow at the beginning of a heap Raupenkot is. Later, the burrow is wider and usually takes an irregular course. Sometimes the entire blade tip is busy, the feeding tunnels show then down. The Raupenkot is ejected partially or remains distributed in the mine. Occasionally change the caterpillars mine. The caterpillars pupate in a solid, elongated, white cocoon on a leaf or between dead vegetation on the ground. The second generation pupates after hibernation. The moths fly from May to June, and in the south by July to August. During the day, they can be easily gekeschert of the food plants. The moths would love to come to light.
System
There are known the following synonyms:
- Cosmopteryx drurella Fabricius, 1775
- Cosmopteryx druryella Zeller, 1850
- Cosmopterix singularis Sinev, 1980