How many types of moths eat clothes. But when theyre in your house they can find the same protein in many types of clothes. The tineola bisselliella or clothes moths and the tinea pellionella or casemaking clothes moth are two such species. Herrich schaeffer when he established tineola. Tineola bisselliella known as the common clothes moth webbing clothes moth or simply clothing moth is a species of fungus moth family tineidae subfamily tineinaeit is the type species of its genus tineola and was first described by arvid david hummel in 1823.
How do moths eat our clothes. Many people are under the impression that the adult moths named above are the culprits when it comes to the holes in cashmere cardigans or wool jackets. Both are members of the family tineidae bisselliella. The specific name is commonly misspelled biselliella for example by g.
Instead it is the voracious appetite of the moth larvae doing the feeding. Most species of moth are nocturnal but there are also crepuscular and diurnal species. Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order lepidoptera that are not butterflies with moths making up the vast majority of the orderthere are thought to be approximately 160000 species of moth many of which have yet to be described. Use clothes moth traps to identify how much of a problem you may have unlike many other types of moths clothes moths prefer dark undisturbed places think closets and you most likely need the assistance of clothes moth traps to get an idea of the level of infestation you are really dealing with.