Pediasia cf. luteella

• Subfamily: Crambinae
• Wingspan: 24-27 mm
• Flight period: May - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Pediasia luteella is a moth of the Crambidae family, subfamily Crambinae, with a wingspan of 24-27 mm.
It is found in most of Europe except Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the Iberian Peninsula. *
To the east, the range extends to Central Asia, the North Caucasus, the Transcaucasia region, Southern Siberia and Mongolia
In Italy it is not present in the islands. *

The front wings are ocher in color with more or less evident black dusting, more intense towards the inner margin. The wings are fringed in the background color. The costa is in the background color of the wing; palps, head and thorax are ocher.
The hind wings are white, translucent, with more or less hinted brown shades, near the edge, the fringes are white.

The Pediasia luteella is univoltine and the adults are visible in flight from May to July, it frequents open grassy habitats and can be attracted by the light. The larvae can be found from September to May. ***

The larvae feed on Poaceae plants such as Festuca ovina, Triticum and Poa sp ..


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Savela, Markku. "Metacrambus Guenée, 1845". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. - http://ftp.funet.fi/
*** Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium - https://projects.biodiversity.be/lepidoptera/