Aproaerema cf. cinctella

• Subfamily: Anacampsinae, Anacampsini
• Wingspan: 10-13 mm
• Flight period: May - Jul
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Fabaceae - Lotus corniculatus

Information

The Aproaerema cinctella *** also known by the synonym Syncopacma cinctella is a moth of the Gelechiidae family, with a wingspan of 10-13 mm.
Present in most of Europe, it is absent from the Balkan peninsula. In Italy it is absent from Sicily. *

The background color of the front wings of the Aproaerema cinctella is black brown with a well defined white line crossing the wing in the posdiscal region. This moth can be confused with other congenital species, the identification was made on the basis of the flight period (photo from May) and the relative ease of finding this species.
The hind wings are of a faded brown color, translucent, strongly fringed. **

The head with long curved palps is of the same background color as the anterior wing, as well as the thorax and the abdomen.

The larvae live inside leaves joined by silky threads in which they feed.
The pupa is thought to form inside a silky cocoon within one or more folded leaves. The Aproaerema cinctella is univoltine and is visible in the months from May to July depending on the latitude. The caterpillars, visible in the month from April to early June.

The larvae feed on Lotus corniculatus belonging to the Fabaceae family.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/ -
*** Aaarvik et al. (2017) I quote: "We consider Aproaerema anthyllidella (Hübner, 1813), type species of the genus Aproaerema Durrant, 1897, as a subordinate within the genus Syncopacma, 1925. Aproaerema has priority. This name change is due to the fact that Landry & Roque-Albelo (2010) have suggested that Untomia Busck, 1906 is a further senior synonym of Syncopacma. This means that we must now put all 27 previous Syncopacma species in the genus Aproaerema ".