Scarce Striped Grass-veneer (Ancylolomia tentaculella (Hübner, 1796))
Scientific name: Ancylolomia tentaculella (Hübner, 1796)
Common name: Scarce Striped Grass-veneer
French name: Crambus tentaculé, Ancylolome commun.
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Heterocera
Family: Crambidae
Subfamily: Crambinae
Wingspan: 30-39 mm. Females are slightly larger than males.
Biotope: Grassy slopes, waste lands and areas with high grasses.
Geographic area: Southern and central Europe, Anatolia, Middle-East.
Flight time: June to September.
Number of generations :
Caterpillar: Whitish with brown head and upper side of the thorax.
Host plant: Various Graminae and in particular those of the Dactylis genus. Caterpillars feed at the base of plants where they shelter inside a silken tube.
The Scarce Striped Grass-veneer is a rather large size Crambidae with globally striped wings.
The fore wings are greyish brown with three white longitudinal stripes. There is a first one close to the inner edge and parallel to a second one located in the middle of the wing. These two stripes diverge from a third one located close to the costal edge.
The submarginal area bears small white streaks between the white stripe close to the costal edge and the middle stripe.
You can distinguish a slightly larger white marking interrupted in its middle by a dark spot.
The marginal area is rather typical with three brown lines parallel to the margin. The middle line is jagged.
The hind wings are greyish white.
The similar species Ancylolomia disparalis, rather found in the southern regions, shows a white marking not extending beyond the dark sport towards the base of the wing.
Males of Ancylolomia palpella, species also mainly found in the southern regions, are the only among the three species of this genus found in France to have very feathery antennae.

Scarce Striped Grass-veneer (Ancylolomia tentaculella) - Yvelines, France - July 28th 2013
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Scarce Striped Grass-veneer (Ancylolomia tentaculella)
The striped fore wings and the lines in the marginal area clearly indicate the Ancylolomia genus.
The region of the observation and the white marking extending beyond the dark spot towards the base are criteria for the Scarce Striped Grass-veneer species.


Scarce Striped Grass-veneer (Ancylolomia tentaculella) - Yvelines, France - July 28th 2013
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Scarce Striped Grass-veneer (Ancylolomia tentaculella)
You can clearly see that the antennae are not feathery.
Is it possible to know if this one is a male or a female based on this picture only?

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