''Setomorpha'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

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 ...

genus in 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 contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

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 1852. Its only species, ''Setomorpha rutella'', the tropical tobacco moth, was described by the same author in the same year. It is a widely spread species that has been distributed by commerce over much of the warmer parts of Africa, Eurasia,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, Australia, many

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

islands and North and South America. 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 9–22 mm. Adults are brown and speckled with dark brown or black. The larvae feed on dried goods, cereals, grain, rice, nuts, seeds and other dry vegetable matter. It is a pest of dried tobacco leaves in some regions and it has been reported as a pest of dried insect specimens. Full-grown larvae are about 17 mm long, cylindrical, dirty white and skin transparent. The head is red brown. The larva pupates in a closely woven and smooth cocoon within a loosely spun outer framework or outer cocoon, to which particles of food and excrement adhere.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q13845909, from2=Q7456762 Tineidae Monotypic moth genera Moths described in 1852 Moths of Africa Moths of Mauritius Moths of Seychelles Taxa named by Philipp Christoph Zeller Tineidae genera