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
Agonopterix ciiella §2 male
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ID from key in MBGBI4.1: Forewing not dark purplish or crimson-brown, with more than one white dot in disc, without red mark in disc, with a pair of obliquely placed black dots in disc at 1/3, without dark line from white dot to tornus, apex not subfalcate, veins not dark-lined; labial palp S3 with one or more dark bands; hindwing light greyish fuscous (not dark grey); upperside of abdomen not blackish medially and buff laterally; forewing costa gently arched, apex rounded, termen rounded (A.scopariella has costa straight in outer 2/3, apex squared, apical half of termen straight) > A.heracliana/ciliella. A.ciliella has 5 fuscous ciliary lines in the hindwing and has a pink tinge to some underside parts when fresh (best seen in the labial palps). A.heracliana lacks any pink tinge and has up to 5 fuscous ciliary lines in the hindwing. So fresh specimens with less than 5 fuscous ciliary lines will be A.heracliana; fresh specimens with a pink tinge and 5 fuscous ciliary lines will be A.ciliella. Worn specimens and specimens with 5 ciliary lines but without a pink tinge require genital determination if male, but cannot be determined if female.
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: A.heracliana and A.ciliella are very similar and are not reliably separable from their female genitalia. |
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§1 Foulness, Essex; 27/07/2008; male; fw 9.5mm
§2 Glen Lochy, Perthshire; 08/04/2025; male; fw 10.2mm
§3 Foulness, Essex; 19/07/2025; female; fw 9.3mm
All images © Chris Lewis
§2 Glen Lochy, Perthshire; 08/04/2025; male; fw 10.2mm
§3 Foulness, Essex; 19/07/2025; female; fw 9.3mm
All images © Chris Lewis
Page published 15/12/2011 (§1) | §2 added 17/04/2025 | §3 added 11/11/2025 | text amended 08/07/2026
