Cosmopterigidae

34.0111 American Fruit Cosmet Anatrachyntis badia (Hodges, 1962)

Adventive/ Now colonised?

Similar species:

Forewing: 4.5 to 5mm

Habitats:

Habits: The moth comes to light.

Foodplant: The early stages have not been recorded in Britain. It was first recorded as an adventive imported with Pomegranites from Spain. It originally comes from the southern parts of North America, but is gradually colonising Europe. There are records from as far apart as Poland, Turkey and the Canary Islands. The larva is said to feed on decaying vegetation and molds, but has been recorded on a wide variety of fruits and flowers including pine cones, Cassia pods, decaying peach and loquat, lime, grapefruit, the rind of ripe oranges, banana, cabbage, coconut blossom and elm leaves. There are two or three generations a year.