Sclerocona acutella

• Subfamily: Pyraustinae
• Wingspan: 25-28 mm
• Flight period: May - Aug
• Spread:Common
• Host plants: Poaceae, Cannabaceae, Solanaceae

Information

The Sclerocona acutella is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Pyraustinae, with a wingspan of 25-28 mm.
In Europe it is very widespread but is absent from Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, the Scandinavian peninsula, Poland, the Baltic countries, Slovenia and part of the Balkan peninsula. In Italy it is also present in Sicily but absent in Sardinia. *
Native to Europe, it is also found to the east in Siberia, Japan and China. It is a species introduced in the eastern part of North America.

The front wings are light brown, in the terminal part it has a glossy white fringe, the costa is pale light brown, the wing also has intervenular streaks. A small spot of ovoid shape not always visible and of variable color is visible in the median area.
The hind wings are white, translucent with more intense light brown shades moving towards the margin. The edge has a brown line that starts from the apex and ends about the middle of the wing.
It has long palps, and such as the head, thorax and abdomen are in the background color of the front wings; in females the abdomen is slightly lighter.

Adults are visible from May to August and can be attracted to artificial light. The presence of Sclerocona has been detected in a variety of wetlands including estuaries, marshes, marshes, swamps, lakes and marginal ponds. All habitats related to the main host plant, Phragmites australis .

he caterpillar is greenish brown in color with a series of darker spots on each segment. The head is black. The pupa is red-brown, very elongated and cylindrical in shape. **

The larvae feed on Phragmites australis an aggressively invasive plant in many wetlands, other Poaceae such as Zea mays (maize), Solanaceae Lycopersicon and Cannabaceae such as Humulus sp. (hop).


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