Agriphila geniculea

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 20-29 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Sep
• Spread:Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Agriphila tolli is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 20-29 mm.
In Europe it is encountered in France, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Gracia. In Italy it is also present in Sicily, but not in Sardinia. *

The front wing is cream colored with more or less intense brown dusting, two narrow bands of brown color that are not always well defined, with a curvilinear pattern they cross the wing in the discal and post discal regions, the outermost edged in off-white towards the edge. The wing margin is silver, metallic. A series of black dots are visible along the edge. The wings are fringed.
The hind wings are white in color, with subtle light brown shades towards the edge. They too are fringed.

Very similar to the congener Agriphila geniculea but is distinguished from the latter by the length of the palps, which are shorter in Agriphila tolli , and for the distance between the traversal lines which is shorter in Agriphila geniculea , as can be seen in the last photo published.
Adult moths fly from June to September, depending on the location. When adults are disturbed, they are also visible during the day.

The larvae feed on Poaceae with preference for the Poa species.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/