Description
The wingspan is 12–14 mm. Adults are blackish, chestnut and whitish. There are two to three generations per year with the last generation of adults overwintering. [3] Meyrick- Forewings brown, mixed with whitish and more or less sprinkled with black, on costa strigulated with black; a black inwardly oblique fascia from costa before middle, followed by a darker brown suffusion; beyond this two white dots placed longitudinally in disc, sometimes connected by a black spot; an irregular black spot on costa towards apex; four dorsal scale-teeth, first two ochreous brown, others black; dark line of cilia subfalcate at apex. Hindwings grey. Larva yellow-whitish or green-whitish; dorsal line whiter; spots brownish; head pale brown. [4] Epermenia aequidentellus looks similar, but has narrower forewings without a hooked apex. [5]
- Ova
Eggs are laid between April and September on the underside of a mature leaf of a plant from the Umbelliferae family, often near the edge. [6]
Larvae can be found from May to June and again from August to September. [7] The body sometimes appear translucent and can be glossy white, yellow or greenish, with black or brown spots and a whitish dorsal line. The head is pale brown. There are five instars. [6] Larva of Epermenia aequidentellus found on wild carrot ( Daucus carota ) have a dark dorsal line and a black head. [3]
Moths can be found in all months of the year. They are most abundant from October to May and in July and August. [6]
The larvae feed on various Apiaceae species, including ground elder ( Aegopodium podagraria ), garden angelica ( Angelica archangelica litoralis ), angelica ( Angelica sylvestris ), bur-chervil ( Anthriscus caucalis ), chervil ( Anthriscus cerefolium ), cow parsley ( Anthriscus sylvestris ), celery ( Apium graveolens ), lesser water-parsnip ( Berula erecta ), caraway ( Carum carvi ), Chaerophyllum hirsutum , rough chervil ( Chaerophyllum temulum ), cowbane ( Cicuta virosa ), hemlock ( Conium maculatum ), wild carrot ( Daucus carota ), giant hogweed ( Heracleum mantegazzianum ), hogweed ( Heracleum sphondylium ), lovage ( Levisticum officinale ), water dropwort (Oenanthe species), parsnip ( Pastinaca sativa ), Peucedanum species, burnet-saxifrage ( Pimpinella saxifraga ), moon carrot ( Seseli libanotis ), Silaum species, stone parsley ( Sison amomum ), [8] great water-parsnip ( Sium latifolium ) and hedge parsleys ( Torilis species). [7]
- Pupa
The light brown pupa is in an open network cocoon and is normally found in detritus on the ground or occasionally on the leaf, or in a petiole groove. [6]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Habitat, Ireland
Larva (with frass)
Pupa in an open network cocoon
