| Nematopogon swammerdamella (Linnaeus, 1758) |
|
|
|
Scientific name: Nematopogon swammerdamella (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: French name: Adèle de Swammerdam Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Microlepidoptera Family: Adelidae Subfamily: Nematopogoninae Wingspan: 18-21 mm. Biotope: Woodland areas. Geographic area: Europe Flight time: Late April to early June. Number of generations : 1 Caterpillar: The larva lives in a bivalve case on the ground. If feeds on rotten leaves of Beeches and Oaks. It over winters twice and pupates inside the case. Host plant: Rotten leaves of beeches or oaks. |
Adelidae of the Nematopogon genus are characterized by their long antennae and their dull and uniform colour. There are six species belonging to this genus in France, Nematopogon adansoniella, Nematopogon metaxella, Nematopogon pilella, Nematopogon robertella, Nematopogon shwarziellus and Nematopogon swammerdamella. They are very difficult to differentiate on pictures. Nematopogon swammerdamella's head is an orange colour. The wings are greyish brown and slightly glisten. They do not show any well contrasted cross-pattern markings. This is one among the only two species reaching a wingspan of 20mm, the other species is Nematopogon adansoniella. So to have a chance to tell it apart you need to have a mean to precisely measure the wingspan and 1 mm difference is important considering other species. Then you have to look at the antennae which are ringed on Nematopogon adansoniella while they are a uniform colour on Nematopogon swammerdamella. |
| [To know more about the Nematopogon swammerdamella] [Next picture] [Top] |
|
The size of this Adelidae, observed in the forest, appeared to me as rather large. Supposing that it exceeds 10mm (that's to say a wingspan of 20mm) you could tell it apart as Nematopogon swammerdamella because the antennae are not ringed. |
| [To know more about the Nematopogon swammerdamella] [Next picture] [Previous picture] [Top] |
|
Your attention is first attracted by the long antennae when you observe moths of the Nematopogon genus. No precise measure of the size -> impossibility to tell the species apart, you must stay at Nematopogon sp. |
| [To know more about the Nematopogon swammerdamella] [Previous picture] [Top] |
|
Here is one member of the Nematopogon genus landed on my rain water tank. |
André Bon November 2015