Pediasia contaminella

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 20-30 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Pediasia contaminella is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 20-30 mm.
It can be encountered throughout Europe with the exception of Ukraine *
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *

The front wings vary from light brown to dark brown, with two zigzagging lines, at times barely definited, which cross the wing in the discal and sub-terminal regions. The faint jaggedness of the sub-terminal line which is toothed in each vein is a distinctive feature of this species. **
A series of dark, almost black points are visible along the margin, in correspondence with the veins. The fringes are light brown. The costa is in the background color of the wing, with darker shades near the apex.
The hind wings are white, translucent, with more or less hinted brown shades, near the edge, the fringes are white.

The dimorphism is not very evident, due to the usually lighter color of the females. Adults flight from June to August and are recognizable by their typical resting position, with the head down and the abdomen obliquely raised.

The larvae, which live in a silk cocoon, feed on plants of the Poaceae (including Poa maritima and Poa borreri) and Festuca ovina.


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