Acompsia cinerella

Acompsia cinerella, the ash-coloured sober, is a small lepidopteran species of the twirler moth family (Gelechiidae). It is the type species of the genus Acompsia, once assigned to the subfamily Anacampsinae but generally placed in the Dichomeridinae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759.

Specimen from North Wales

Ash-coloured sober
Upperside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gelechiidae
Genus:	Acompsia
Species:	A. cinerella
Binomial name
Acompsia cinerella (Clerck, 1759)[1]
Synonyms
Phalaena cinerella Clerck, 1759 Phalaena murinella Scopoli, 1763 Tinea ardeliella Hübner, 1817 Recurvaria cinerea Haworth, 1828 Lita spodiella Treitschke, 1833

Distribution

This species can be found in most of Europe, except for Portugal and Iceland.^[1]

Habitat

These moths inhabit a variety of areas, preferably with rich vegetation or bushes.^[2]

Description

Acompsia cinerella has a wingspan of 16–19 mm. These moths have long upwardly-curved labial palps. The forewings show a brownish colour, without any marking.^[3] This species is rather similar to Helcystogramma rufescens.^[4] Meyrick describes it - Forewings rather light greyish-brown; stigmata sometimes faintly darker. Hindwings grey.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Biology

There are two generations per year, as it is a bivoltine species. Adults are on wing from May to September. The larvae feed on moss present on trunks of broad leaves trees, often at the base of the tree.^[3][11][12]

Bibliography

• Erstbeschreibung: Clerck, C. (1759): Icones Insectorum rariorum Cum Nominibus eorum trivialibus, locisqve e C. LinnaeiArch. R. et Eqv. Aur. Syst. Nat. allegatis. Sectio Prima: [8 unpaginierte Textseiten], pl. 1-16. Holmiae. — Digitalisat der Bibliothèque nationale de France.
• Lectotypus-Festlegung: Robinson, G. S. & E. Schmidt Nielsen (1983): The Microlepidoptera described by Linnaeus and Clerck. — Systematic Entomology 8: 191–242.