Chilo luteellus

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 25-35 mm
• Flight period: May - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Phragmites australis

Information

The Chilo luteellus is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 35-35 mm.
In Europe it is found in France, Spain, Denmark, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. In Italy it is absent from Sicily. *
It is also found in Algeria, Egypt, Syria, China, Korea, Japan and the Philippines.

The background color of the front wing varies from light ocher to reddish brown, with variable spraying of dark scales, shiny metallic when exposed to direct light, arranged in longitudinal rows along the veins of the wings, sometimes forming a sort of small spot in the median zone; the hind wings are silky white or cream. The palps are long, of the same color as the wing in the upper part, lighter in the lower part.

Adults are found in flight from May to August. It occupies swamps and areas rich in water, such as ditches and irrigation canals and other humid environments where the host plant is present. The dark cream caterpillar has darker longitudinal lines. The brown head darkens near the jaws. It lives within the roots of the host plant in which the pupa is also present **.

The larvae feed on Phragmites australis (communis).


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://www.lepiforum.de/