''Argyresthia albistria'' 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 ...

of the family

Yponomeutidae : ''Certain members of the unrelated snout moths (Pyralidae) are also known as "ermine moths." Spilosoma lubricipeda is an unrelated moth with the common name "white ermine."'' An ermine moth is any moth in the family Yponomeutidae, which has s ...

. It is found in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. 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 9–12 mm. The head is white. Forewings are ferruginous-brown, purplish-tinged; a white dorsal streak to tornus, interrupted by a dark ferruginous -brown quadrate median spot. Hindwings are grey. The larva is pale green; a red band on each segment; head and plate of 2 black. Heath, J, ed. 1996 ''

The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland ''The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland'' (abbreviated to ''MBGBI'' or ''MOGBI'') is a multi-volume reference work on the Lepidoptera of the British Isles. The original publisher of this series was Curwen Books who published vo ...

''Volume 3 (Yponomeutidae to Elachistidae) The moth flies at night from June to August and is attracted to light. The larvae feed on blackthorn (''

Prunus spinosa ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in B ...

''), overwintering and feeding in the spring.

References

External links

Lepidoptera of Belgium

Argyresthia albistria at UKmoths
Moths described in 1828 Argyresthia Moths of Europe {{Yponomeutidae-stub