Flour moth
Encyclopedia
The term flour moth refers to certain small moth
s of the family
Pyralidae
(snout moths, waxmoths), whose caterpillar
s are a pest of flour
:
These two are closely related. They can easily be distinguished by their forewing coloration: the Mediterranean Flour Moth has light grey forewings with tiny dark specks, appearing uniformly grey from a distance. The Indianmeal Moth has bicolored forewings, with the proximal part light grey and the distal part dark or reddish grey.
Pyralis farinalis
, a somewhat more distantly related and more robust snout moth, is known as Meal Moth. Its caterpillars have similar habits.
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...
s of the 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...
Pyralidae
Pyralidae
The Pyralidae or snout moths are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many classifications, the grass moths are included in the Pyralidae as a subfamily, making the combined group one of the largest families in the Lepidoptera...
(snout moths, waxmoths), whose caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s are a pest of flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
:
- Ephestia kuehniella (Mediterranean Flour Moth, Indian Flour Moth)
- Plodia interpunctella (Indianmeal Moth)
These two are closely related. They can easily be distinguished by their forewing coloration: the Mediterranean Flour Moth has light grey forewings with tiny dark specks, appearing uniformly grey from a distance. The Indianmeal Moth has bicolored forewings, with the proximal part light grey and the distal part dark or reddish grey.
Pyralis farinalis
Pyralis farinalis
The Meal Moth is a cosmopolitan moth of the family Pyralidae. Its larvae are pest of certain stored foods, namely milled plant products....
, a somewhat more distantly related and more robust snout moth, is known as Meal Moth. Its caterpillars have similar habits.