Other Common Names
Belted Grass-veneer (North America)
Silver-spotted Veneer (UK)
The Necklace Veneer (origianl common name)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Euchromius ocelleus (Haworth, 1811)
Palparia ocellea Haworth, 1811;
Eromene texana Robinson, 1870
Euchromius ocellea misspelling
Size
Wingspan 16-27 mm. Larva 18 to 20 mm long.
Identification
Head: Head and short nose cone brownish-yellow.
Antenna: Brownish
Thorax: Brownish-yellow.
Wings:
Forewing: Dark brownish-yellow with brown speckles (irrorate). Two golden transverse slightly wavy bands cross the middle of the wing. Between these bands is a stripe of shiny silvery scales. Two more narrow golden bands slant across upper wing tip, with some slivery scales between. Wing tip outer margin top half has golden border with silvery scales; lower half has wide silvery band enclosing 8 black spots which are somewhat joined at outside edge.
Hindwing: Shiny white, may have yellowish border; fringe white.
Legs: Yellowish-white, feet slightly darker. Short spurs.
Abdomen: Brownish-yellow in male. Female darker with yellowish-white tuft of hair at abdomen tip.
Larva: Head and thorax shield reddish-yellow with some brown streaks. Segments dirty white with fairly large, round reddish-yellow spots (pinacula). Nine breathing holes (spiracles) - 7 on segments 1 to 7, slightly oval, bordered in black; two others (on prothorax and segment 8) are larger. Anal plate rounded, faint brownish streaks. 4 prolegs on segments 3 to 6, crochets in complete ring.
Range
Georgia and Florida to California
(1); in the west, occurs north to Oregon, Washington and North Dakota.
(2),
(3); Wisconsin and Kentucky; Ontario, Canada.
Also occurs throughout much of the Old World (Europe, Africa).
Season
July to October in north. All season in south.
Food
Larvae feed on corn roots. Previous reports of feeding on grain products and dried vegetation are erroneous per Hahn Capps in proceedings of U.S. National Museum, 1967.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Palparia ocellea male Haworth, 1811. Locality: London England. In British National History Museum.
Holotype as Eromene texana Hubner, 1870. Locality: Texas. April 25th. (G. W. Belfrage Collection) No other information.
Perhaps introduced from Europe, where it was first described (England). On the other hand, if it feeds on corn it may have been introduced with corn, long ago (it also feeds on corn in England).
See Also
In E. californicalis, the forewing bands are placed at a slightly different angle to the costa than in E. ocelleus, and the terminal line dots are bordered proximally by a wide white strip, whereas E. ocelleus has a narrow white strip bordering the terminal line dots.
Print References
Capps, H.W., 1966. Review of New World moths of genus
Euchromius Guenee with descriptions of two new species (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).
Proceedings of The United States National Museum, 119(3551): 1-9.
(5)
Hubner, 1870. Annals of the Lyceum Natural History of New York,Vol. 9, pg. 155.
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler, 2009.
Moths of Western North America. University of California Press, p. 183; plate 24, fig. 28.
(6)
