Eudonia pallida

• Subfamily: Scopariinae
• Wingspan: 14-19 mm
• Flight period: Apr - Sep
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Mosses

Information

The Eudonia pallida is a moth of the Crambidae family, Scopariinae subfamily, with a wingspan of 14-19 mm.
In Europe it is present almost everywhere, it is absent from Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia from most of the Balkan peninsula and Ukraine. In Italy it is absent in the islands. *

The fore wing is whitish in color sprinkled with ocher / light brown scales, a white line crosses the wing in the postdical region. A series of dark spots are visible in the submarginal region. Three small dark, elongated spots are visible, in the discal region and one in the post disc region.
The rear wings are white, translucent, with ocher / light brown shades near the edge. All four wings are fringed in white, sometimes with ocher / brown shades.
Palpi, head and thorax are ocher / light brown, the same is the abdomen which is slightly lighter in color.

Adults fly in a single generation throughout the year, from April to September depending on the latitude. ** Widely distributed, even if it tends to frequent humid habitats such as swamps, aquitines or damp meadows. They are active at dusk and twilight and can be attracted to artificial light.

In common with a number of other congeners, the early stages are not well described , but the larvae are believed to feed on ground-level mosses or lichens. The larvae were, in fact, raised in the moss of Calliergonella cuspidata . ***

The larvae, as mentioned, feed on mosses.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium - https://projects.biodiversity.be/lepidoptera/species/6335/
*** (RJ Heckford)