Wheeleria spilodactylus
Species of plume moth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wheeleria spilodactylus, the horehound plume moth, is a moth of the family Pterophoridae, first described by John Curtis in 1827. It is found in South-Western and Central Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and North Africa. It has been introduced to Australia and New Zealand (in 2018 by Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research) as a biocontrol agent for white horehound (Marrubium vulgare).[1]
| Wheeleria spilodactylus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pterophoridae |
| Genus: | Wheeleria |
| Species: | W. spilodactylus |
| Binomial name | |
| Wheeleria spilodactylus Curtis, 1827 | |
| Synonyms | |
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The wingspan is 20–25 millimetres (0.79–0.98 in). Adults are on wing from July to September depending on the location.[2]
The difficult to see larvae feed on black horehound (Ballota nigra) and white horehound.
