Cnephasia communana

Description

Cnephasia communana is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in Europe. The wingspan is 18–22 mm. The forewing is rounded and relatively contrastingly marked, the background colour is grey with clear brownish sprinkling, and there are three fairly wide, but very irregular, grey-brown cross bands. The hindwings are grey-brown. The species relatively early flight time can be a good characteristic of distinguishing it from the other Cnephasia species. Adults are on wing from May to July. There is one generation per year. The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, including Glebionis segetum, Lotus, Vicia faba, Plantago and Rumex Cnephasia is a genus of tortrix moths (family Tortricidae). It belongs to the subfamily Tortricinae and therein to the tribe Cnephasiini, of which it is the type genus. The type species around which Cnephasia was established by J. Curtis in 1826 (in the explanations to plate 100 of his British Entomology) was claimed to be "Tortrix logiana". However, this was a misidentification; the name of T. logiana (described by C.A. Clerck in 1759 and nowadays called Acleris logiana) was until the early 20th century frequently applied to related species in error. Curtis simply repeated the mistake of A.H. Haworth, who had in his 1811 volume of Lepidoptera Britannica discussed a Cnephasia under Clerck's name, but the original misidentification may well go back to Linnaeus' treatment of "T. logiana" in Systema naturae. Eventually, this was resolved, and the type species of Cnephasia was determined to be the tortrix moth described as Olethreutes pasiuana by J. Hübner in 1822.