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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of grass moths (Pyralidae-Crambinae and Schoenobiinae) |
Adults. Face without a conical hairy prominence. Proboscis functional.
Wingspan 18–27(–29) mm. The fringe glistening-metallic (mostly), or not glistening-metallic (C. perlella). Termen sinuate (mostly), or non-sinuate (C. perlella). Ground colour of the forewings whitish, or ochreous, or brown. Forewings plain, or conspicuously patterned with contrasting colours. The patterning complex, or simple; restricted to longitudinal streaking, or comprising both longitudinal streaking and transverse markings. Forewings without a median line; transversely dark-lined towards the termen (commonly), or not transversely dark-lined towards the termen; the subterminal lines when present, usually conspicuously white-edged; with a strong white median streak (commonly), or without a strong white median streak (the pallid, type form of C. perlella); the median streak when present, interrupted by a cross-bar, or without a cross-bar; variously with a conspicuous white apical mark, or with both a conspicuous white apical mark and a costal one nearby, or without conspicuous white marks at or near the apex (rarely). Forewing vein 7 arising from vein 8. Hindwings whitish, or pale grey to dark grey; plain, or suffused grey.
Distribution and habitats. England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Occurring in coastal locations and inland. In wet places, mesophytic habitats, and dry places. British species: C. ericella, C. hamella, C. lathoniellus, C. leucoschalis, C. pascuella, C. perlella, C. pratella, C. silvella, C. uliginosellus. Adults abroad May to August.
Larvae. Larvae feeding on monocots; Poaceae (mostly), or Cyperaceae (C. silvella on Carex).
Subfamily. Crambinae.
General comments. The dark var. warringtonella of the widespread Crambus perlella presumably represents non-industrial melanism. It occurs everywhere with the pale form, but is more frequent in damp locations in the north and west.
Illustrations. • 10 Crambus species, with Catoptria and Platytes: Leech, 1886. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Platytes cerussella; 2, Platytes alpinella. 3, Catoptria falsella; 4, Catoptria verellus. 5 and 6, Crambus pratella; 7, Crambus ericella; 8, Crambus sylvella; 9, Crambus hamella; 10, Crambus pascuella; 11, Crambus uliginosellus. 12, Catoptria furcatellus. Leech, 1886. • Crambus perlella, with species of Agriphila, Catoptria, Chrysocrambus, Pediasia and Thisanotia: Leech, 1886. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Catoptria pinella; 2, Catoptria permutatella. 3, Agriphila latistria. 4, Crambus perlella; 5, Crambus perlella var. warringtonella. 6, Agriphila selasella. 7, Agriphila tristella. 8, Pediasia fascelinella. 9, Agriphila inquinatella. 10, Pediasia contaminella. 11, Agriphila geniculea; 12, Agriphila culmella. 13, Thisanotia chrysonuchella. 14, Chrysocrambus craterella. Leech, 1886. • Hübner’s illustrations of 9 Crambus species (1796–1813). Crambus Fabricius. Current names for Hübner's illustrations (1796–1813) of the genus: 29, C. pratella; 31, C. pascuella; 40, C. perlella; 269 and 270, C. silvella; 271, C. ericella; 384, C. lathoniellus; 389 and 490, C. pratella; 667, C. hamella. See accompanying document for nomenclatural details. • Crambus ericella, C. pratella and C. silvella: Barrett. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1 and 2, Crambus pratella; 3, Crambus ericella; 4, Crambus silvella. From Barrett, 1907. • Crambus hamella, C. pascuella and C. uliginosellus: Barrett. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. 1, Crambus hamella; 2, Crambus pascuella; 3, Crambus uliginosellus. From Barrett, 1907. • Crambus perlella and varieties: Barrett. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Varieties of Crambus perlella. From Barrett, 10907. • Crambus hamella (specimens): photo. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Crambus hamella. 13/8/49, Cannock Chase, Staffs. R.G. Warren. • Crambus pascuella (specimen): photo. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Crambus pascuella. 14/7/39, Chorlton Moss, R.G. Warren. • Crambus perlella, pale and dark forms (specimens): photo. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Crambus perlella. The "normal" form (above) from Woodwalton Fen, Hunts., 22/7/1956. The melanic form (var. warringtonella, below) from Whixall Moss, Staffs., 30/6/35. • Crambus perlella (specimen): photo. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Crambus perlella. 23/7/56, Castor Hanglands, nr. Peterborough. L. Watson. • Crambus perlella, melanic var. warringtonella (specimen): photo. PYRALIDAE-RAMBINAE. Crambus perlella var. warringtonella. 30/6/35, Whixall Moss, R.G. Warren. • Crambus uliginosellus (specimens): photo. PYRALIDAE-CRAMBINAE. Crambus uliginosellus. 17/7/48, Barlaston, R.G. Warren. • C. ericella, C. hamella, C. pascuella, C. pratella, C. silvella, C. uliginosellus: forewing patterns. Forewings of Crambus spp. 17, C. pratella; 18, C.duetellus, = C. pratella. 19, C. pascuella; 20, C. uliginosellus. 21, C. silvella; 22, C. ericella; 23, C. hamella.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of grass moths (Pyralidae-Crambinae and Schoenobiinae). Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
