In Europe its range extends from the
Iberian Peninsula through western and central Europe and the
British Isles. Further east to
Sakhalin and the
Amur-
Ussuri region. In the north, the limit is central
Fennoscandia. To the south it occurs from
Italy to the
Balkans. In
Austria, the previously mass-occurring species has become today in many places rare; many populations have disappeared. The
wingspan is 23–27 mm. The length of the forewings is 12–15 mm. Almost entirely black, the extreme apex and apical fringe of the forewing white. In
O. a. pyrenaica, from the
Pyrenees and central Italy, the wings, but especially the forewing, are more or less strongly dusted with brownish yellow. In ab.
O. a. nigerrima, Paul Thierry-Mieg described from a single female without exact locality, the white apex and apical fringe are absent. ==Biology==