Published November 19, 2025
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First early-stage observations for Tenaga Clemens, 1862 with notes on biology and distribution of T. nigripunctella (Haworth, 1828) (Lepidoptera, Tineidae)
Authors/Creators
- 1. Unaffiliated, Weymouth, United Kingdom
- 2. Unaffiliated, Portesham, United Kingdom
- 3. Department of Science, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
Description
Early stages of the tineid genus Tenaga Clemens, 1862 are reported for the first time, for T. nigripunctella (Haworth, 1828). Its larvae were found within the shells of dead Garden Snails Cornu aspersum (Müller, 1774), feeding on the dried body tissues. Larvae of the moth have been found, but not reared, among a range of detritus substrates, with traces of likely feeding observed on dry mouse droppings, and in a dead Western Honeybee Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758. Adults of the species have been seen annually since 2013 in a small area of Dorset, England. Historical and modern occurrences in Great Britain (until 1934) and country records elsewhere are reviewed, with new records reported for Lebanon and Syria. Two live larvae have been found within dead snail shells, one reared to the adult stage, the other was identified from its DNA barcode. Only a single COI-5P haplotype is known worldwide and ours is the fourth known DNA sequence. The taxonomic placement of the genus Tenaga, containing only two closely related species, sometimes placed in the family Meessiidae, is also discussed.
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