Agriphila tristella

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 22-30 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Sep
• Spread:Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Agriphila tristella is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 22-30 mm.
The species is found in almost all of Europe with the exception of Ukraine. In Italy it is also present in the islands *

The appearance of this moth is variable even if the most common is that with the front wing of hazelnut color crossed longitudinally by a band, with narrowings, white in color that is divided into several veins. But there are also forms without the white band or even with the brown band. The background color also changes a lot, it varies from light ocher, to hazelnut, to dark brown. The front wings are slightly fringed
The hind wings are translucent white in color and may have subtle light brown shades towards the edge. They too are fringed.

Very similar to the congener Agriphila selasella , unlike which it shows a white / yellowish median stripe with a 1/3 to 1/2 narrowing from the base of the wing and 4 prominent terminal "fingers" and a trace of a subterminal line, while Agriphila selasella typically shows a white median stripe of fairly constant width with 2 indistinct terminal "fingers" and no trace of a subterminal line. **

Adults fly from June to September depending on the latitude

The larvae feed on Poaceae such as Deschampsia caespitosa, Poa sp. and Gramineae.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** British Lepidoptera https://britishlepidoptera.weebly.com/