These moths inhabit woodland, fields, hill pasture and heaths.[3]
Description
Olethreutes arcuella. Upperside
Olethreutes arcuella has a wingspan of 14–18 mm.[3] Forewings of these medium size moths have an orange-rufous ground colour, with some yellow patches, a few metallic blue-grey or silver-colored streaks and a wide black marking in the middle, which includes a row of three small, silver colored spots. The hindwings are brown.[3] The caterpillars are purplish- gray to violet-brown and have a yellowish-brown head.[4]
This species is quite similar to Olethreutes subtilana, but has rather narrower wings.
Biology
This species usually has one generation (univoltine).[4] The flight time of these day-active moths ranges between late May and August.[3] The caterpillars feed on dead and dried out leaves and similar plant material.[3][5][6] Also pupation takes place in plant debris.[7]
Savela, Markku (2005): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms – Olethreutes arcuellus [sic]. Version of 2005-SEP-16. Retrieved 2010-APR-19.
Grabe, Albert (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen ["Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars"]. Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins27: 105-109 [in German]. PDF fulltext
References
^Baixeras et al. (2009), and see references in Savela (2005)
.jpg)
