''Nemapogon cloacella'', the cork moth, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of tineoid moth. It belongs to the

fungus moth Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(Tineidae), and therein to the subfamily

Nemapogoninae Nemapogoninae is a fungus moth subfamily of the family Tineidae Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family cont ...

. Its

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

''N. infimella'' was established by G.H. Heydenreich in the 1851 volume of his ''Lepidopterorum Europaeorum Catalogus Methodicus'', but many sources still attribute it to G.A.W. Herrich-Schäffer, who supposedly narrowly beat Heidenreich in (re)describing the species. But as it seems, Herrich-Schäffer was merely one of the first to use the name proposed by Heydenreich, as the volume of his ''Systematische Bearbeitung der Schmetterlinge von Europa'' where he discussed the cork moth was not published until 1853 or 1854. That all nonwithstanding, the species had been already validly described by A.H. Haworth in the 1828 volume of ''Lepidoptera Britannica''.

Description

This small moth has a wingspan of 10–18 mm. The forewings are irregularly mottled black, brown, white and grey, resembling close relatives such as the European corn moth (''N. granella''). The head has a tuft of pale yellow hairs. The antennae are wire-shaped and about two-thirds as long as the front wings. The thorax is grey. The wing fringes on the forewing are alternately grey and white. The hind wings are dark grey-brown. The larva is white to pink with a reddish-brown head. The neck plate is also reddish-brown.

Distribution and ecology

''Nemapogon cloacella'' is a widespread species, found all across the western Palaeartic and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where it has recently been recorded from

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. It is reportedly absent from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, but given that it occurs in all surrounding countries, this is unlikely to be correct. Its preferred

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

with a large amount of dead trees. The

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

adults are on the wing throughout the summer and are typically encountered at

dusk Dusk occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall.''The Random House College Dictionary'', "dusk". At predusk, during early to intermediate stages of twilight, enoug ...

but sometimes can be seen earlier in the day.

Biology

The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s feed mainly on

bracket fungi Polypores, also called bracket or shelf fungi, are a morphological group of basidiomycete-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi that form large fruiting bodies called conks, which are typically woody, circular, shelf- or bracket-shaped, w ...

. Their food spectrum has been subject to considerable dispute in the past due to confusion with the European corn moth. Some claimed that ''N. cloacella'' caterpillars eat a wide range of food –

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed prior to cooking or being eaten on its own. Drying may occur either naturally, by sun, through the use of industrial dehydrators, or by freeze drying. ...

and

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s, seeds and other vegetable material, e.g.

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

s, ''

Capsicum annuum ''Capsicum annuum'' is a fruiting plant from the family Solanaceae (nightshades), within the genus Capsicum which is native to the northern regions of South America and to southwestern North America. The plant produces Berry, berries of many color ...

'' fruit,

poppyseed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the poppy plant (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries ...

(''Papaver somniferum''),

bitter almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the sh ...

s (''Prunus amygdalus amara'') or

bilberries Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...

(''Vaccinium''), but even

cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

(hence its common name) and

beeswax Bee hive wax complex Beeswax (also known as cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in o ...

. Other authors stated that they were only found on the oak mazegill fungus (''Daedalea quercina''), and ascribed the wide range of foodstuffs to ''N. granella''. But as it seems, neither extreme was correct; the caterpillars do eat preferentially fungi – not only the oak mazegill but also others (e.g. birch polypore, ''Piptoporus betulinus'') – feeding on plant debris and similar materials when their favorite food is not available.Grabe (1942), Kimber

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest ...

and see references in Savela (2009)

Footnotes

References

* (2009)
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Version 2.1, 2009-DEC-22. Retrieved 2010-MAY-06. * (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 105-109

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

br>PDF fulltext
*

UKmoths &ndash
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-05. *

br>Global Taxonomic Database of Tineidae (Lepidoptera)
&ndash
''Nemapogon cloacella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-06. * (2003): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash

'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic'' Version of 2003-DEC-27. Retrieved 2010-MAY-06.

External links

lepiforum.de

{{Taxonbar">from=Q489694 Nemapogoninae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia">Moths of Europe">Nemapogoninae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of North America