| Rice Moth | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pyralidae |
| Tribe: | Tirathabini |
| Genus: | Corcyra Ragonot, 1885 |
| Species: | C. cephalonica |
| Binomial name | |
| Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton, 1866) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
See text |
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The Rice Moth (Corcyra cephalonica) is a pyraloid moth of the family Pyralidae. It is – as far as is known – the only living species of the genus Corcyra.
This small moth can become a significant pest. Its caterpillars feed on dry plantstuffs such as seeds, including cereals (e.g. rice). Other recorded[1] foods are flour and dried fruits.
Other scientific names, now invalid, for the Rice Moth are:[2]
When describing his T. theobromae in 1913, Dyar established the genus Tineopsis. He overlooked, however, that this had already been proposed by Cajetan Freiherr von Felder for a (presumed) arctiid moth in 1861. Nonwithstanding that Felder's species is somewhat dubious and has not been identified in recent lists, Dyar's Tineopsis is a junior homonym and thus invalid in any case.[2]