La Connection Francais.
Apr 2nd, 2009 by Duncan
Since I started mothing I’ve seen just three species of plume moths, very small and incredibly fragile, and looking quite unlike the normal run of moths. The first for a long time came to the light recently, and it was one I’d had before, the Horehound Plume Moth, Wheeleria spilodactylus. This species was deliberately introduced from France to control black and white horehound, the female lays about 100 eggs that hatch in a few days, and the larvae bore into the developing shoots and then work their way down to the mature foliage.
My information comes from Don Herbison-Evan’s invaluable Lepidoptera site.
The name comes from the wing lobes that resemble feathers or plumes, due to the long fringe scales along the margins. Another characteristic is the spurs on the legs, these can just be seen in the photo, although indistinct against the white sheet. This beautiful and useful moth’s wingspan is about 20 mm.
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