Euchromius bellus

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 15-18 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Asteraceae

Information

The Euchromius bellus is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 15-18 mm.
It is currently present mainly in the Mediterranean area of ​​Europe, we find it in France, Spain, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Ukraine and Russia. *
In 2012 it was also registered in Poland and Switzerland in 2017 **
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *
Distribution outside Europe is as follows: Morocco, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Tadzhikistan. ***

The Euchromius bellus has a wing pattern which is quite typical for the species; the base color of the front wings is a sand brown, crossed in the median area by a white transversal line surrounded on both sides by two yellow lines of the same size. The black terminal points with metallic blue shades of the wings, normally offer a good reference for the distinction of the species. The hind wings are translucent white with brown shades near the edge.
The antennae are white serrated in males and bristly in females. The torax is uniform in color ranging from creamy white to brown.

Univoltina, adults fly from June to August. The moth flies in a variety of habitats: hills and mountain hay meadows, acid grasslands and moors, closed rocky grasslands, rocky steppes, open acid rock grasslands, white oak scrub and woods, from the basal plain to the mountain. Adults fly to very hot and dry locations, with scant herbaceous vegetation. ***

The larva lives on the dry leaves of Hieracium, Picris and Scabiosa.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** (Wasala & Górnicki 2012) (Kopp & Brägger 2017) - Euchromius bella (HÜBNER, 1796) – first record from Poland - https://www.researchgate.net/
*** Microlepidoptera.hu A magyar Microlepidoptera kutatások hírei - http://www.microlepidoptera.hu/2011_pdf/hungarian_euchromius_2011.pdf