Aphomia sociella

"Bee Moth" redirects here. This term may also refer to the moths used to produce waxworms.

Bee Moth

Adult male

Adult female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pyralidae
Genus:	Aphomia
Species:	A. sociella
Binomial name
*Aphomia sociella* (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Numerous, see text

The bee moth (Aphomia sociella) is a small moth of the family Pyralidae. It is native to Europe, but may be found synanthropically outside its original range.

The wingspan is 18–44 millimetres (0.7–1.7 in). This moth flies from June to August in the temperate parts of its range, e.g. Belgium and The Netherlands.

The caterpillars feed on the honeycomb in bumblebee, bee and wasp nests.^[1]

Synonyms

Time and again this species has been described as supposedly new, yielding a considerable number of alternate scientific names which are all invalid as junior synonyms nowadays:^[2]

Aphomia asiatica Caradja, 1916
Aphomia eritrella Della Beffa, 1941
Aphomia lanceolata Dufrane, 1930
Aphomia minor Dufrane, 1930
Aphomia pedemontella Della Beffa, 1941
Aphomia rufinella Krulikowski, 1909
Aphomia virescens Skala, 1929
Crambus colonatus Haworth, 1809 (unjustified emendation)
Crambus colonum Fabricius, 1798 (unjustified emendation)
Lithosia socia Fabricius, 1798 (unjustified emendation)
Tinea colonella Linnaeus, 1758
Tinea sociella Linnaeus, 1758
Tinea tribunella [Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775

References

↑ Albert Grabe (1942). "Eigenartige Geschmacksrichtungen bei Kleinschmetterlingsraupen" [Strange tastes among micromoth caterpillars] (PDF). Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins (in German) 27: 105–109.
↑ Markku Savela (April 27, 2009). "Aphomia Hübner, [1825]". Lepidoptera and some other life forms. Retrieved April 11, 2010.

External links

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