Blastobasis adustella
Encyclopedia
Blastobasis adustella is a species of moth
of the Blastobasidae
family. It is endemic to Australia
n region, but was introduced in western Europe and is now reported from The Netherlands, Great Britain
, Ireland
, Madeira
and the Azores
The wingspan
is 15–20 mm. Adults are on wing from August to September.
The larvae feed on the seedheads of Dipsacus fullonum
in Europe.
.
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 Blastobasidae
Blastobasidae
Blastobasidae is a family of moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. Its species can be found almost anywhere in the world, though in some places they are not native but introduced by humans. In some arrangements, these moths are included in the case-bearer family as subfamily Blastobasinae...
family. It is endemic to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n region, but was introduced in western Europe and is now reported from The Netherlands, Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
and the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 15–20 mm. Adults are on wing from August to September.
The larvae feed on the seedheads of Dipsacus fullonum
Dipsacus fullonum
Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names Fuller's teasel and wild teasel. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species and often a noxious...
in Europe.
Taxonomy
The name Blastobasis lignea has long been used for this species. Research by Karsholt & Sinev in 2004 has concluded that the real lignea is in fact a species restricted to Madeira. To complicate things, lignea is now a synonym of Blastobasis vittataBlastobasis vittata
Blastobasis vittata is a moth of the Blastobasidae family. It is endemic to Madeira.-Taxonomy:The name Blastobasis lignea has long been used for the species now known as Blastobasis adustella. Research by Karsholt & Sinev in 2004 has concluded that the real lignea is in fact a species restricted to...
.