Scrobipalpa salinella

• Subfamily: Gelechiinae, Gnorimoschemini
• Wingspan: 11-15 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Sep
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Chenopodiaceae, Asteraceae

Information

The Scrobipalpa salinella is a moth of the Gelechiidae family, with a wingspan of 11-15 mm.
In Europe it is present in patches, in fact we find it in Portugal, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Holland, Sweden, Croatia, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. *
In Italy it is also present in the Islands. *
In the east, this moth extends its range across Siberia and Central Asia to Mongolia. It is also found in North Africa.

The front wings of the Scrobipalpa salinella have an ocher / whitish background color with a slight brown dusting. Three dark ocher orange spots are visible in the median band of the wing. Brown dusting is clearly visible on the costa and on the termen.
The hind wings are strongly fringed translucent white. **

The curved palps are long of the background color of the front wings, also the head and thorax are in the background color of the wings, the abdomen has a lighter color. **

Adults of Scrobipalpa salinella were recorded in the period from June to September. It is found in coastal areas and in interior saline or brackish environments. The larvae are found from April to June, but sometimes they can meet again in August, to be defined if they are second generation or delayed in development due to parasitoids. ***

They are dirty yellow, with a brick red dorsal line, light brown head. They are leaf miners. The gallery has the shape of a long, narrow surface corridor, with a black or brown central line given by the excrement. After some time, the larva leaves the gallery and begins to feed deeply leaving a shorter and wider patch. The elderly larvae live freely among the leaves.

The larvae feed on Chenopodiaceae such as Salicornia europaea, Suaeda maritima, Arthrocnemum fruticosum and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum or Asteraceae such as Aster tripolium.
Other registered host plants are Spergularia spp. and Limonium vulgare. ***


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