Sclerocona

Sclerocona is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae which contains only one species, Sclerocona acutella. It was first described by the Prussian biologist Eduard Friedrich Eversmann in 1842.

Life cycle

The wingspan is 25–28 mm. Adults are light brown. Larvae have been recorded feeding on corn, nightshade and tomato, hop, reed and wild bean.

Distribution

The moth is found from Spain and Sicily north to Great Britain and Denmark and east to Siberia, China and Japan. It is an introduced species in eastern North America.
In Great Britain, the first three records were thought to be migrants, but subsequent records from a garden near Exeter, close to a newly-thatched cottage are believed to have originated from reeds imported from central Europe. A colony was discovered, in 2010, on the Isle of Wight at Afton Marsh and has been recorded annually since. The origin of the Isle of Wight moths in unknown and migration would seem the more likely.