Indianmeal moth: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Indianmeal moth lives – recorded in 32 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Plodia interpunctella
Group	Butterflies & moths
Found in	32 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Class	Insect
Order	Lepidoptera
Family	Pyralidae

Where does the Indianmeal moth live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Indianmeal moth in 32 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: New Zealand. In Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Germany
United States
France (introduced)
Sweden (introduced)
Romania (introduced)
Finland
Austria (introduced)
United Kingdom (introduced)
Switzerland
Denmark (introduced)
Canada
Russia (introduced)
Norway
Hungary
Ukraine
Australia
Spain
Italy
Mexico
Portugal (introduced)
Belgium (introduced)
Brazil
Czech Republic
New Zealand
Netherlands (introduced)
Luxembourg
Poland
Argentina
Algeria
Turkey
Estonia (introduced)
Slovakia

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the Indianmeal moth?

The Indianmeal moth (Plodia interpunctella) is an insect in the order Lepidoptera and the family Pyralidae, genus Plodia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Indianmeal moth

The Indianmeal moth (Plodia interpunctella), also spelled Indian meal moth and Indian-meal moth, is a pyraloid moth of the family Pyralidae. Alternative common names are weevil moth, pantry moth, flour moth or grain moth. The almond moth (Cadra cautella) and the raisin moth (Cadra figulilella) are commonly confused with the Indianmeal moth due to similar food sources and appearance. The species was named for feeding on Indian meal (the cornmeal and maize flour from maize), with Indian in the New World sense; it does not occur natively in India. It is also not to be confused with the Mediterranean flour moth (Ephestia kuehniella), another common pest of stored grains.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Indianmeal moth (revision 1369817576), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q779383 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).