The moth was
first described from a
specimen found in
Carniola, present-day
Slovenia, by the
Austrian physician and
naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763. He named it
Phalaena aureatella.
Phalaena – a word used by
Aristotle, meaning the rest of the moths; or possibly a devouring monster or whale, which may be derived from the destructive properties of
clothes moths; or possibly from
phallus an association by the Greeks of lepidoptera and
semen which was supposed to attract moths; or
paros i.e. a light and the attraction of moths to lights. The moth was later put in the
genus Micropterix, which was
raised by
Jacob Hübner and the name comes from the small size of the adult;
Mikros – ″little″ and
pterux – ″a wing″. The specific name
aureatella – golden from
aureatus, referring to the three submetallic markings on the forewing.
Subspecies •
Micropterix aureatella aureatella •
Micropterix aureatella junctella Weber, 1945 •
Micropterix aureatella shikotanica Kozlov, 1988 ==Description==