Diagnosis. Easily recognised by white thorax, orange head and forewing with white streak along dorsal margin, running from base to fascia, and in male absence of hair-pencil. Externally most similar caradjai has a dark thorax and hair-pencil. Male genitalia characterised by very long, slender valvae and aedeagus shorter than capsule or valvae; female genitalia by widened anterior apophyses, shape of T8, hairy abdominal tip, similar signa and smooth bursa.
Description. Male. Forewing length 2.28 — 2.44 mm (2), wingspan 5.2 — 6.0 mm. Head: frontal tuft and collar intensively orange. Antennae with 41 — 42 segments (2). Thorax and tegulae white, except brown outer edge of tegulae; forewings fuscous, with medial arched or interrupted white fascia, united by whife streak along dorsal margin to wingbase, occupying 3 — 4 rows of scales; white pattern in rest position of moth forming anchorshaped figure. Hindwing without hair-pencil, but with costal bristles.
Female. Forewing length 2.4 — 2.72 mm (3), wingspan 5.2 — 6.0 mm. Antennae with 31 — 32 segments (3).
Male genitalia. Capsule length 304 — 330 µm (3). Tegumen produced into rounded, approximately triangular, pseuduncus. Gnathos divided, with narrow spatulate distal part, basal part with serrate margin. Valva length 279 — 321 µm, very long and narrow, inner margin completely concave, outer margin completely convex. Aedeagus 244—279 µm (3), distinctly shorter than capsule or valva, with single pointed carinae, curved outwards.
Female genitalia. T7 with a semicircular patch with about 200 closely set long, smooth setae. T7 and 8 in addition with about 50 shorter setae and a few scales laterally; T8 with posteror margin truncate with prominent corners. Anal papillae broad, with 16 setae. Vestibulum with vaginal sclerite, a dorsal spiculate pouch with many small spicules and a group of densely packed pectinations near entrance of ductus spermathecae. Corpus bursae 620 — 660 µm, without pectinations; signa similar, 309 — 339 µm, 2.6 — 3.4 x as long as wide. Ductus spermathecae with 2 convolutions and a prominent vesicle.
Larva unknown.
Hostplants: unknown, probably evergreen Quercus, adults have usually been collected near Quercus ilex L. or Q. rotundifolia Lam.
Up to now only known from three provinces in southern Spain: Cádiz, Málaga and Valencia: Laštůvka and Laštůvka 2008; Nieukerken et al. 2004a.
Adults fly from 25 April to 23 July.
This taxonomic description is based on Van Nieukerken (1985) and Van Nieukerken et al (2010).