- Aphomia sociella
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- "Bee Moth" redirects here. This term may also refer to the moths used to produce waxworms.
Bee Moth 
Adult male 
Adult female Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Family: Pyralidae Genus: Aphomia Species: A. sociella Binomial name Aphomia sociella
(Linnaeus, 1758)Synonyms Numerous, see text
The Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) is a small moth of the family Pyralidae. It is native to Europe, but may be found synanthropically outside its original range.
The wingspan is 18–44 millimetres (0.7–1.7 in). This moth flies from June to August in the temperate parts of its range, e.g. Belgium and The Netherlands.
The caterpillars feed on the honeycomb in bumblebee, bee and wasp nests.[1]
Synonyms
Time and again this species has been described as supposedly new, yielding a considerable number of alternate scientific names which are all invalid as junior synonyms nowadays:[2]
- Aphomia asiatica Caradja, 1916
- Aphomia eritrella Della Beffa, 1941
- Aphomia lanceolata Dufrane, 1930
- Aphomia minor Dufrane, 1930
- Aphomia pedemontella Della Beffa, 1941
- Aphomia rufinella Krulikowski, 1909
- Aphomia virescens Skala, 1929
- Crambus colonatus Haworth, 1809 (unjustified emendation)
- Crambus colonum Fabricius, 1798 (unjustified emendation)
- Lithosia socia Fabricius, 1798 (unjustified emendation)
- Tinea colonella Linnaeus, 1758
- Tinea sociella Linnaeus, 1758
- Tinea tribunella [Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775
References
- ^ Albert Grabe (1942). "Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen [Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars]" (in German) (PDF). Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins 27: 105–109. http://www.biologiezentrum.at/pdf_frei_remote/ZOEV_27_0105-0109.pdf.
- ^ Markku Savela (April 27, 2009). "Aphomia Hübner, [1825]". Lepidoptera and some other life forms. http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/pyraloidea/pyralidae/galleriinae/aphomia/index.html#sociella. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
External links
- Lepidoptera of Belgium
- Microlepidoptera.nl (Dutch)
- waarneming.nl (Dutch)
- Bee Moth on UKmoths
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