Gold-speckled Fungus Moth Nemaxera betulinella

The first attempt at assigning vernacular names to micro moths dubbed this one the Gold-speckled Clothes Moth but this species is not a threat to anyone's clothes. The latest published vernacular names corrects this mis-association. This species seems to be attracted to the Sallow Clearwing pheremone lure.

I found this dead in the bottom of my pheremone lure trap. It was fresh, suggesting that it might have got too hot in the trap, despite me having checked it regularly during the afternoon - perhaps it had been hiding in the top of the trap when I last checked it? The ID appears to be straightforward enough but as I had the specimen it seemed a waste not to check its genitalia.

dead male Gold-speckled Fungus Moths Nemaxera betulinella showing its genitalia, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 18th July 2022

This one was shown to me by David Norgate who had caught it in his garden moth trap.

Gold-speckled Fungus Moths Nemaxera betulinella, Toftwood (Norfolk, UK), 30th June 2025