Tinea pellionella

• Subfamily: Tineinae
• Wingspan: 9-16 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Oct
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Dry animal remains (fibrous keratin)

Information

The Tinea pellionella is a moth of the Tineidae family with a wingspan of 09-16 mm.
Practically cosmopolitan moth, in Europe it is found everywhere (except Iceland). In Italy it is also found in Sardinia.

The front wings of Tinea pellionella are light ocher, shiny with some darker spots, usually brown or brown. Often, but not always, these spots are clearly visible in the post-disc region. The wings are strongly fringed in the background color of the wings. **
The hind wings have a silky white color, they too are strongly fringed.
Abdomen and thorax are yellowish ocher, the head has the characteristic tuft, typical of the family, of color ocher / light orange. **

Originally, the species afferent to the TINEIDAE family were related to mammalian dens and bird nests, only later have they adapted to life inside homes where there are materials that are palatable to them. ***

For optimal development, a temperature of 25-28 ° C is required, ensured at a relative humidity of 75%.
These animals do not drink water directly, so the water necessary for their survival must be contained in the food they ingest; this is why they prefer unwashed fabrics used several times in which biological liquids deriving from human metabolism are present (sweat, hair, etc.). ***

Females lay a maximum of 50-60 eggs on the substrates where the larvae will develop.
The larvae cover themselves with a mobile silky case and feed on the substrate until they reach maturity. Full development can take anywhere from 4 months to a few years.

The larvae are whitish in color with the head and the prothoracic shield of dark brown color, and feed on residues of animal origin, in particular fibrous keratin, they live inside silk tubes covered with the residues of the materials they feed on.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.org/
*** Sanità Ambientale - https://www.sanitaambientale.it/