Diasemiopsis ramburialis

(Duponchel, 1834)

  • Subfamily: Spilomelinae
  • Wingspan: 17-22 mm
  • Flight period: Jun - Oct
  • Spread: Common
  • Host plants: Azolla sp. and possibly other aquatic plants

Information

The Diasemiopsis ramburialis is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Spilomelinae, with a wingspan of 17-22 mm.
In Europe it is found in Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Benelux, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Estonia. In Italy it is also present in the islands. *

It is a cosmopolitan moth in fact it can be found in most of the tropics including the Azores, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. **

The moths are gray or brown in color, with ocher dusting, with two large jagged white lines across each wing.
The wing edge is outlined in brown and towards the outside there is a hatch of the same color that extends to the fringes of the wing.
The palps are brown, the head has a tuft of ocher hair on the upper part, the thorax is brown mottled with white, while the abdomen is brown with thin white lines.

In Europe, adults are visible from May to October, depending on the latitude. Until February 2016, the caterpillars were thought to feed on Brassicaceae family plants, but in the course of an investigation at the Rice Research Institute of Iran (RRII, Rasht, Guilan) for potential water fern biocontrol agents, Azolla filiculoides, the larvae of the Diasemiopsis ramburialis have been found feeding on this plant.

The biology, life cycle, and morphology of all stages of this species are described and illustrated for the first time in this research, and it is reported Azolla filiculoides as a host plant; the host plant of Diasemiopsis ramburialis was previously unknown. ***


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Australian Caterpillars and their Butterflies and Moths - http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/
*** (Diasemiopsis ramburialis (Duponchel) (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae s. L., Spilomelinae) in Iran: First record for the country and first host plant report on water fern (Azolla filiculoides Lam., Azollaceae))in Nota Lepidopterologica 39(1):1-11 • February 2016. - https://www.researchgate.net

Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis
Diasemiopsis ramburialis