Acompsia tripunctella

Description

Acompsia tripunctella is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is found in the Alps, Apennines, Carpathians and the Balkans. There are also records from European Russia, Transbaikalia and the Caucasus, but these require confirmation. The habitat consists of clearings and edges of forests, steppe slopes and meadows up to the alpine zone. The wingspan is 19–23 mm for males and 16–18 mm for females. The forewings are clay-brown to greyish brown, mottled with light greyish, yellow brown and some black scales. The hindwings are grey. Adults are on wing from June to September. The larvae feed on Plantago alpina. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 12–13 mm. They are black brown slightly tinged with greenish. They overwinter in a silken tube covered with leaf litter. Pupation takes place in June on the ground in a loose cocoon. Acompsia is a genus of the twirler moth family (Gelechiidae). Though it has once been assigned to the proposed subfamily "Anacampsinae" (here included in Gelechiinae), it is generally placed in the Dichomeridinae. Some authors include Telephila here as a subgenus, while others prefer to keep it distinct as its relationships are fairly obscure.