Found on the stem of a hollow pinetree (Pinus sylvestris) in the Northern part of Norway.The picture is unfortunately blurred, but the red eyes should be a good characteristics. Length 10 mm.
To me it looks like a Cydia, but there are a number of species occurring on Pinus, like Cydia cognatata, C. coniferana, C. cosmophorana, the pic IS a bit blurred.
Thank you for answering!
I wonder if not red eyes exclude Cydia? Another proposal is Chionodes fumatella, but red eyes are missing here, too.
It can not be Cydia. The moth may be belongs to family Oecophoridae. The red eyes probably were due to light.
Maybe you are right, but i guess red eyes could be a result of mutation, as well.,
Yes, you are right. The moth is very similar(but only) toHofmannophila pseudospretella, Oecophorinae
If it is not a mutation, red eyes could indicate that the sight ability is reduced?
The palpae are bended up, so this is a moth primarily of the families Gelechiidae, Elachistidae or Oecophoridae, surely not of Tortricidae.
The red eyes are probably not a specific characteristic.
I recomend the following URL for the identification of your moth:
http://www.lepiforum.de/1_forum.pl
If it is possible to identify the species from your foto, you will be helped there!
regards
Rudolf Ritt
Thank you for your recommondations and suggestions. I will check out the different genera.
It is Gelechiidae: Neofaculta infernella. You can see from even this image the long ascending palpi that definitely exclude Tortricidae and equally definitely tells it is gelechioid. This species is common in Fennoscandia.
This maybe right, but Neofaculta interfernella is from morphologic aspects not discriminable from Neofaculta ericetella, both species live in the same habitats. So jou can say, this is Neofaculta ericetella/interfernella or you have to do a genital preparation.
Helmut Deutsch has recorded a partificial albino from Neofaculta interfernella:
http://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki_vgl.pl?Neofaculta_Infernella
So this may be the reason for the red eyes.
These species can be identified externally as follows: infernella has broader and more blunt-tipped forewings and its ground colour is more brown than in ericetella. At least in Scandinavia. As all this points towards infernella, with no conflict in the picture, I dared to suggest the id to species level.
Yes. That has something else to do, an individual disturbance in development of pigment or so. So does the hollow tree, as these gelechiids are green leaf feeders. So are also other related gelechiids, if it appears that my identification of genus/species is wrong (in the further images there now appears such wing pattern that I could not decipher in the first).
Thank you for an informative discussion! I conclude that the species is Neofaculta infernella.
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