''Blastobasis adustella'' is a species of

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

Blastobasidae The Blastobasidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. Its species can be found almost anywhere in the world, though in some places they are not native but introduced by humans. In some arrangements, these moths are included in ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n region, but was introduced in western Europe and is now reported from

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

and the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Description

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 15–20 mm. Adults are on wing from August to September. The larvae feed on a variety of foodstuffs, including decaying vegetable matter as well as the seedheads of wild teasel ('' Dipsacus fullonum'') in Europe.

Taxonomy

The name ''Blastobasis lignea'' has often been used for records now considered as ''Blastobasis adustella''.Karsholt O. & Sinev S.Yu. (2004) Contribution to the Lepidoptera fauna of the Madeira Islands Part 4: Blastobasidae. ''Beitr. Ent.'' 54(2): 387–463.
/ref> A taxonomic revision by Karsholt & Sinev reclassifies Walsingham's original ''B. lignea'' specimen as '' Blastobasis vittata'', making ''lignea'' properly the junior synonym of ''vittata''. ''B. adustella'' was originally described by Walshingham as a variety of ''B. lignea''.

References

External links

Azores Bioportal
nbsp; Blastobasis Moths described in 1894 Moths of Australia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham {{Blastobasis-stub