''Compsoctena fossoria'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

in the family

Eriocottidae Eriocottidae or Old World spiny-winged moths is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera whose position relative to other members of the superfamily Tineoidea is currently unknown. There are two subfamilies, Compsocteninae and Eriocottinae. ...

. It was described by

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854 – 31 March 1938) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern microlepidoptera systematics. Life and work Ed ...

in 1920. It is found in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 19–21 mm. The forewings are grey, much suffused with whitish. There is a basal fascia of dark fuscous suffused irroration (sprinkling), continued as a broad streak along the costa to two-fifths, thence rather obliquely across the wing to near the dorsum, again angulated and continued to near the costa at four-fifths, with a branch to the tornus. A similar spot is found on the costa beyond the middle, and three or four small spots on the costa posteriorly. The hindwings are light fuscous grey.Meyrick, E. (1920)
"Descriptions of South African Microlepidoptera"
''Annals of the South African Museum''. 17: 310.

References

Endemic moths of South Africa Moths described in 1920 Compsoctena Lepidoptera of South Africa Taxa named by Edward Meyrick {{Eriocottidae-stub