Schrankia costaestrigalis

• Subfamily: Hypenodinae, Hypenodini
• Wingspan: 15-22 mm
• Flight period: May - Oct
• Spread: Uncommon
• Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

The Schrankia costaestrigalis is a moth of the Erebidae family, subfamily Hypenodinae, with a wingspan of 15-22 mm.
Visible throughout Europe, in Italy it is also present in the islands. *

The coloring of the front wings of the Schrankia costaestrigalis is whitish ocher with metallic reflections, mixed with brownish shades towards the costa; a black dash is clearly visible under the rib in the basal region. There is also a partially blackish, toothed internal line, externally oblique, irregular, partly darkly marked and bordered on the back with whitish. The discoid cell is small, blackish, connected with the outer line by a dark shade. The subterminal line is indistinct, pale. **
The hind wings are yellow / whitish in color, with a gray disc point.
The head, the thorax and the abdomen follow the basic coloring of the front wings.

This moth flies from May to October depending on location in perhaps two generations. Not much is known about the three pre-adult stages of this species in nature, and information on the larva is only obtained from its captive observation . The preferred habitats are swampy places, wet meadows and low bogs.

The larva feeds (in captivity) on Calluna (Ericaceae), Melampyrum (Orobanchaceae), and wild marjoram sometimes on flowers of Thymus and Mentha (Lamiaceae). *** Other sources give the larva also present on Campanulaceae, Asteraceae and Salicaceae. *


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stoccarda Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914
*** Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa - https://leps.it/