Mesapamea secalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

common rustic

on grasses

Greece, Lefkas, Katouna, 21.vi.2018 © Laurens van der Linde (identification conditional: M. secalella is a possible alternative)

parasite

Larvae in the leaf sheaths. They destroy seedlings in the autumn, and continue eating the uppermost leaf sheath of older plants the following spring, causing the diagnostic “white head” appearance.

host plants

Poaceae, oligophagous

Alopecurus; Arrhenatherum; Avena; Dactylis glomerata; Phleum pratense; Secale cereale; Triticum aestivum; Zea mays.

distribution within Europe

PESI (2021).

egg, larva, pupa

see Pyrgus.

synonyms

Mesapamea remmi Rezbanyai-Reser, 1985 (see Sihvonen ao).

references

Ebert (ed., 1998a), Lempke (1991a), Lepiforum (2023), Pyrgus (2021), Sihvonen, Lee, Lundsten & Mutanen (2019a), Vegliante & Zilli (2007a), Viejo Montesinos, González Granados & Gómez de Aizpurua (2014a), Žikić, Ritt, Colacci, ao (2019a).