Metzneria agraphella (Ragonot, 1895)

Bidzilya, Oleksiy, Karsholt, Ole, Kravchenko, Vasiliy & Šumpich, Jan, 2019, An annotated checklist of Gelechiidae (Lepidoptera) of Israel with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4677 (1), pp. 1-68 : 37

Metzneria agraphella (Ragonot, 1895)

Parasia agraphella Ragonot, 1895 —Bull. Soc. ent. Fr. 1895: cvi.

Metzneria incognita Walsingham, 1904 —Ent. Month. Mag. 40: 220.

Records. Amsel 1933: 125; Amsel 1935c: 263; Bodenheimer 1937: 100; Englert 1974: 407.

Material examined. 1 ♂, Mizpe Harel , 31˚48’N 34˚58’E, 28.vii.2013 (Kuslitzky) | flower head Echinops ( TAU) ; 2 ♂, Jerusalem, 6.vi.2004 (Kravchenko) gen. slide 5500 Hendriksen ( TAU, ZMUC) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Nahal Oren, Mt. Carmel , walley bottom, 29.ix.1998 (Pavlíček & Kravchenko) ; 1 ♂, ditto but 27.v.1999 ; 2 ♂, ditto but 21.v.1998 ; 1 ♀, ditto but 17.v.1997 ; 3 ♂, 1 ♀, Golan Heights, Masd al Shams , oak forest, 26.viii.2000 (Pavlíček) (all NMPC) .

Host plant. In Israel the larva was bred from flower head of Echinops sp. (first host plant record).

Distribution. Portugal (Corley: 215: 88), Morocco, Algeria, Greece (Crete), Turkey, Syria, Israel ( Englert 1974: 407).