''Monopis laevigella'', the skin 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

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 nominate subfamily Tineinae. It is (under its junior synonym ''Tinea rusticella'') the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus '' Monopis'' and its junior objective synonym ''Hyalospila''. As with the common clothes moth (''Tineola bisselliella''), earlier authors frequently misapplied the name '' Tinea vestianella'' to the present species. It is not uncommon all across western

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 ...

as well as in

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 ...

. It has not been recorded in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

yet, but given that it occurs in all neighboring countries, it probably has simply been overlooked. Its absence from some

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

islands may be genuine however.

Description and ecology

The adults of this small

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 ...

have a wingspan of 13–20 mm. On the wing around May to September (depending on the location), they are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

and come out at dusk. They have dark brown forewings with a white fringe and the translucent center spot characteristic for the genus '' Monopis'', but lack the white markings adjacent to it found in many congeners. The hindwings are lighter brown-grey; they are surrounded by a long-haired fringe, as usual for fungus moths and relatives. The body is dark brown, and the head bears a tuft of reddish-ochre hair. Two

generation A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...

s per year may occur as far north as southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Otherwise, 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 ...

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are found in the colder months only. They generally feed on animal

detritus In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...

. They have been recorded from dried-out animal carcasses, in the debris of bird nests and on owl pellets. They have also been found to eat

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

s, furs,

hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

s, carpets, rags and rotted

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

Synonyms

Invalid

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

s ( junior synonyms and others) of the skin moth are: * ''Blabophanes semispilotella'' Strand, 1900 * ''Monopis rusticella'' (Hübner, 1796) * ''Monopis saturella'' (Haworth, 1828) * ''Recurvaria rustica'' Haworth, 1828 (unjustified emendation) * ''Tinea laevigella'' Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 * ''Tinea rusticella'' Hübner, 1796 * ''Tinea saturella'' Haworth, 1828 * '' Tinea vestianella'' (''sensu auct., non'' Linnaeus, 1758: preoccupied) ''Blabophanes semispilotella'' has been believed to refer to the same animal as '' M. weaverella'', but the latter seems to be a distinct species, while the former is not even a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''M. laevigella'' but merely a chance form.Robinson 010/ref>

Footnotes

References

* (2008): Australian Faunal Directory &ndash
''Monopis''
Version of 2008-OCT-09. Retrieved 2010-MAY-09. * (2009)
''Monopis laevigella''
Version 2.1, 2009-DEC-22. Retrieved 2010-MAY-09. * (1942): Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 105-109 n Germanbr>PDF fulltext
* 010 UKMoths &ndash
''Monopis laevigella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-09. * (2004)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
&ndash
''Monopis''
Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2010-MAY-09. * 010br>Global Taxonomic Database of Tineidae (Lepidoptera)
&ndash
''Monopis laevigella''
Retrieved 2010-MAY-09.

External links

Lepiforum de

Images
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3088705 Tineinae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of Iceland