Pterophorus pentadactyla

• Subfamily: Pterophorinae
• Wingspan: 24-35 mm
• Flight period: May - Sep
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Convolvulaceae

Information

The Pterophorus pentadactyla also known as White Plume Moth is a moth of the Pterophoridae family, with a wingspan of 24-35 mm.
It is found throughout Europe, excluding Iceland *
Its range extends to the western Palearctic and North Africa.
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *

Like most of the Pterophoridae , the wings of the Pterophorus pentadactyla are also divided into laminae, (lobes). Pure white in color, sometimes with light dark dusting, it has long and deeply fringed wings.
The front wings are divided, about one third of the length, into two laminae while the rear wings are divided into three decidedly thinner lobes and with very long fringes. At rest, the adult keeps the wing lobes open perpendicular to the axis of the body but rarely all 5 lobes are visible.

Head and thorax are and abdomen are in the background color of the wings.

The Pterophorus pentadactyla is a bivoltine moth, it reproduces in two generations from May to September, in humid areas with tall grass from the basal level up to 1000 meters.
The female lays her eggs singly or in small groups on the leaves of the host plant.

It overwinters as larva stage. The newborn larvae begin by biting the underside of the leaves and then, once grown, destroy the entire leaf. The larvae are light green in color, dark central dorsal line with sometimes white marks on the sides, on each segment dorsally yellow marks are visible, small black tubercles from which long white hairs emerge. **
The color of the pupae varies from light green, sometimes with black spots, to white / greenish with black spots on the back, the pupa has long white hairs. **

The larvae are oligophages and feed on Convolvulaceae, in particular on Calystegia sepium; Convolvulus arvensis, Cantabrian. ***


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Plant Parasites of Europe, leafminers, galls and fungi - https://bladmineerders.nl/