Adscita mauretanica is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Zygaenidae

Zygaenidae

The Zygaenidae moths are a family of Lepidoptera. The majority of zygaenids are tropical, but they are nevertheless quite well represented in temperate regions. There are about 1000 species. Various species are commonly known as Burnet or Forester moths, often qualified by the number of spots,...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

. It is found in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 and north-western Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

The length of the forewings is 8,5-13 mm for males and 8,5-12,3 mm for females. Adults are on wing from May on low altitudes up to August on high altitudes.

The larvae of ssp. A. m. mauretanica feed on Helianthemum

Helianthemum

Helianthemum , known as rock rose, sunroses, or rushrose, is a genus of about 110 species of evergreen or semi-evergreen subshrubs in the family Cistaceae...

species, while the larvae of ssp. A. m. wigeli feed on Rumex acetosa atlanticus. Before overwintering, the larvae live as leaf miner

Leaf miner

Leaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...

s. Pupation takes place in a cocoon at the ground.

Subspecies

• Adscita mauretanica mauretanica (Middle Atlas, Rif Mountains of Morocco, north-western Algeria)
• Adscita mauretanica wiegeli (Alberti, 1973) (High Atlas)

External links

• The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)