Meal Moth

Description:

The Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) is a cosmopolitan moth of the family Pyralidae. Its larvae (caterpillars) are pest of certain stored foods, namely milled plant products. It is the type species of the genus Pyralis, and by extension of its entire tribe (Pyralini), subfamily (Pyralinae) and family. Its synanthropic habits were noted even by 18th- and 19th-century naturalists, who described it using terms like domesticalis ("of home and hearth"), fraterna ("as close as a brother"), or the currently-valid farinalis ("of the flour").[1] At rest, adult moths (imagines) typically hold the tip of their abdomen at 90° to their body. Their upperwings are fairly colourful by moth standards, with a wingspan of 18–30 mm. Adults fly from June to August.[2] In Great Britain and some other locations – particularly outside its natural range – it is mostly restricted to anthropogenic habitats of stored grain, e.g. barns and warehouses. Other foods recorded as larval food are hay and straw, dried fruits, cork and even candy

Notes:

spotted in my house