Kingdom Animalia Family Tineidae Scientific name Setomorpha rutella Rank Species | Class Insecta Genus Setomorpha Phylum Arthropoda Order Butterflies and moths | |
Similar Butterflies and moths, Tiquadra, Opogona omoscopa, Erechthias, Cosmopterix attenuatella | ||
Setomorpha rutella (tropical tobacco moth) is a moth of the Tineidae family. It is a widely spread species that has been distributed by commerce over much of the warmer parts of Africa, Eurasia, Malaysia, Australia, many Pacific islands and North America and South America.
The wingspan is 9–22 mm. Adults are brown and speckled with dark brown or black.
The larvae feed on dried goods, cereals, grain, rice, nuts, seeds and other dry vegetable matter. It is a pest of dried tobacco leaves in some regions and it has been reported as a pest of dried insect specimens. Full-grown larvae are about 17 mm long, cylindrical, dirty-white and skin transparent. The head is red-brown.
The larva pupates in a closely woven and smooth cocoon within a loosely spun outer framework or outer cocoon, to which particles of food and excrement adhere.