Oinophila

Oinophila is a small genus of the fungus moth family, Tineidae. Therein, it belongs to the subfamily Hieroxestinae.^[1]

O. v-flava, often misspelled "-flavum", is commonly known as the wine moth. Its caterpillars borrow into moist cork – such as of wine bottles stored in a damp cellar – in search of the mould which they primarily eat.^[2]

Species

Oinophila is only a minor lineage in a small subfamily, but the notoriety of the well-known wine moth made it quite well known. In the past, it was thus used as a sort of "wastebin taxon" for miscellaneous Hieroxestinae. Four species remain in the genus at present, but two of these do not actually seem to belong here – they might not even be Hieroxestinae:^[3]

• Oinophila argyrospora Meyrick, 1931 (provisionally placed here)
• Oinophila nesiotes Walsingham, 1908
• Oinophila v-flava (Haworth, 1828)
• Oinophila xanthorrhabda Meyrick, 1915 (provisionally placed here)

See also

• Cork moth (Nemapogon cloacella), another tineid moth occasionally feeding on cork of wine bottles.

Footnotes

References

• Bennett, Stuart M. (2003): Stored Product Insects – Oinophila v-flavum (Wine Moth) [sic]. Retrieved 2010-MAY-01.
• Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (2004): Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species – Oinophila. Version of 2004-NOV-05. Retrieved 2010-MAY-01.
• Robinson, Gaden S. [2010]: Global Taxonomic Database of Tineidae (Lepidoptera). Retrieved 2010-MAY-01.