Ephestia elutella
| Cacao moth | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pyralidae |
| Genus: | Ephestia |
| Species: | E. elutella |
| Binomial name | |
| Ephestia elutella (Hübner, 1796) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Numerous, see text | |
Ephestia elutella, the cacao moth, tobacco moth or warehouse moth, is a small moth of the family Pyralidae. It is probably native to Europe, but has been transported widely, even to Australia. A subspecies is E. e. pterogrisella.
The wingspan is 14–20 mm. Forewings in male are less elongate, [ than other Ephestia ] with costal fold enclosing flocculent scales; grey, sprinkled with whitish and mixed with dark fuscous, towards dorsum often also with ferruginous-reddish; lines pale, dark-edged, first straight, rather oblique, second almost straight; two darker transversely placed discal dots. Hindwings pale fuscous, anteriorly thinly scaled, in 6 with median and subdorsal whitish-ochreous basal hair tufts. Larva brown-whitish; dots brown; head and plate of 2 reddish brown: on biscuit, chocolate, figs
This moth flies throughout the warmer months, e.g. from the end of April to October in Belgium and the Netherlands.