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