Elophila Nymphaeata
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''Elophila nymphaeata'', the brown china mark, 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
Crambidae Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...
. It was described by
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''.


Distribution

It is found in Europe and across the
Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...
to the
Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...
and China. The moth is notable as its larva, like most members of the crambid subfamily
Acentropinae Acentropinae is a fairly small subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. Species of this subfamily are exclusively found in wetlands and aquatic habitats. Systematics In modern treatments, the former subfa ...
, is aquatic and has tracheal
gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...
s.


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 16–20 mm.The forewings vary from yellow-ochreous to rather dark fuscous; basal area with dentate white and dark fuscous lines; a white subcostal spot before first line; lines whitish, obscure, dark-margined, first angulated above middle, second with deep abrupt sinuation inwards below middle; median band almost occupied by three white dark edged blotches; an irregular interrupted white dark-edged and dark-veined subterminal streak. Hindwings as forewings, but base white, median band white except discal spot, second lineless sinuate.The larva is light brownish; dorsal line darker; head light brown; plate of 2 black-edged. In flat oval floating cases of leaf-fragments, on ''Potamogeton'', ''Hydrocharis'', ''Sparganium'', etc See also Parsons et al.Mark Parsons, Sean Clancy, David Wilson ''A Guide to the Pyralid and Crambid Moths of Britain and Ireland'': Atropos, England. Elophila.nymphaeata5.-.lindsey.jpg, Caterpillar (MHNT) Elophila nymphaeata Bugac Hungary - Male dorsal.jpg, ♂ (MHNT) Elophila nymphaeata Bugac Hungary - Male ventral.jpg, ♂ △


Biology

The moth flies from May to September depending on the location. The larvae feed on ''
Potamogeton ''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis' ...
'', ''
Nymphaeaceae Nymphaeaceae () is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate climate, temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 know ...
'' and ''
Nuphar lutea ''Nuphar lutea'', the yellow water-lily, brandy-bottle, or spadderdock, is an aquatic plant of the family Nymphaeaceae, native to northern temperate and some subtropical regions of Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia. This species was us ...
''.


Subspecies

*''Elophila nymphaeata nymphaeata'' *''Elophila nymphaeata silarigla'' Speidel, 1984 (Algeria and Morocco)


References


External links


Brown china-mark
at ''UKMoths''
Nature Spot



Lepiforum.de
Acentropinae Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Aquatic insects Moths described in 1758 {{Acentropinae-stub