32.019 Agonopterix ciliella (Banded Brindled Brown)
ws: 19-24mm (MBGBI4.1), fw 9.5-12mm (Sterling & Parsons); Aug-May; wide range of Apiaceae (Umbellifers); common throughout GB
ID: Forewing not dark purplish or crimson-brown, with more than one white dot in disc, (no dark line from discal dot to tornus, terminal cilia not pinkish, without red mark in disc, veins not dark-lined, base not irrorate white); labial palp S3 with one or more dark bands; hindwing light greyish fuscous (not dark grey); apex and termen rounded (A.scopariella has costa straight in outer 2/3, apex squared, apical half of termen straight); hindwing cilia often pink-tinged, with 5 fuscous ciliary lines > A.ciliella
A.ciliella may be further suspected by a pinkish tinge to the underside - §2 shows this particularly on the underside of the labial palps. (A.heracliana has hw cilia not pink-tinged and usually 2 or 3 fuscous ciliary lines). Caution: A.heracliana may show 5 ciliary lines. The identity of §1 on this page was not confirmed by gen.det, so its identitiy is not certain. I examined numerous A.heracliana/ciliella between 2008 and 2024 and they all proved to be A.heracliana. Male genitalia: A.heracliana and A.ciliella are very similar. The difference is described in MBGBI4.1 thus: "A.ciliella has the distal process of the sacculus (cuiller) straight but twisted on its long axis, whereas in A.heracliana it is sinuate and not twisted". Female genitalia: in A.ciliella the signum is small and rounded, whereas in A.heracliana it is larger and oblong |
§1 Foulness, Essex; 27/07/2008; male; fw 9.5mm
§2 Glen Lochy, Perthshire; 08/04/2025; male; fw 10.2mm
All images © Chris Lewis
§2 Glen Lochy, Perthshire; 08/04/2025; male; fw 10.2mm
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 15/12/2011 (§1) | §2 added 17/04/2025