''Phaulernis dentella'' (also known as the scale-tooth lance-wing) is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

of the family Epermeniidae found in Asia and Europe. The moth was first described by

Philipp Christoph Zeller Philipp Christoph Zeller (8 April 1808 – 27 March 1883) was a German entomologist. Zeller was born at Steinheim an der Murr, Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt (Oder) where Philip ...

in 1839.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is 9–10 mm. The forewings are blackish-brown, with a scattering of white scales and there is a distinct tuft on the dorsum. There is one generation per year with adults on wing in June and can occasionally be seen on the flowers of the larval foodplant. The larvae feed on the seeds of burnet-saxifrage (''

Pimpinella saxifraga ''Pimpinella saxifraga'', known as burnet-saxifrage, solidstem burnet saxifrage, lesser burnet is a plant species in the family Apiaceae, a native of the British Isles and temperate Europe and Western Asia. It is neither a burnet, which its l ...

''), bulbous chervil (''

Chaerophyllum bulbosum ''Chaerophyllum bulbosum'' is a species of flowering plant from the carrot family and known by several common names, including turnip-rooted chervil, tuberous-rooted chervil, bulbous chervil, and parsnip chervil. It is native to Europe and Wes ...

''), rough chervil (''

Chaerophyllum temulum ''Chaerophyllum temulum'', the rough chervil, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. Unlike several other species in the genus, ''Chaerophyllum temulum'' is poisonous.Starý, František, Poisonous Plants (Hamlyn colour guide ...

''), ground elder ('' Aegopodium podagraria''), hogweed ('' Heracleum sphondylium'') and wild angelica ('' Angelica sylvestris''). Larvae can be found from July and August.

Distribution

It is found in central and eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

and western

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

.Faunistics of the Epermeniidae from the former USSR (Epermeniidae)

References

Epermeniidae Moths described in 1839 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Philipp Christoph Zeller {{Epermenioidea-stub