About Dafa oliviella (Fabricius, 1795)
Dafa oliviella (Fabricius, 1795) has a wingspan of approximately 15 millimetres (0.59 in). At a casual glance, this species resembles its widespread relative E. sulphurella. It is mostly black, with a white band across the middle of its thick antennae and yellowish markings on its forewings. Unlike E. sulphurella, Dafa oliviella has an uninterrupted band across the middle of its forewings, and its proximal longitudinal mark is a shorter triangle, rather than a long streak. Right after hatching and for some time afterwards, Dafa oliviella also has a distinct purplish sheen. This sheen is far less noticeable in E. sulphurella, even when E. sulphurella has just hatched. The head and hindwings are black, and whitish at the base of the upper edge. The antennae are black, with a white section just before the tip. This species occurs across most of Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the British Islands, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as in the Near East. It lives in old-growth woodland. While it is not generally uncommon, it is rare at the edges of its range. For instance, in the United Kingdom, its only notable populations are located in southern and southeastern England, the regions closest to the European continent.
