Micronoctua karsholti is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Micronoctuidae

Micronoctuidae

The Micronoctuidae are a family of moths that includes about 400 described species. The family was first described in 2005.Micronoctua karsholti is the smallest of all species in the Noctuoidea superfamily.-Taxonomic History:...

 family. It is known from southern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, the islands of south-east Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, and the northern Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 (including Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 and Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

).

It is the smallest of all species of the Noctuoidea

Noctuoidea

Noctuoidea is the superfamily of noctuid or "owlet" moths, and has the largest number of species described for any Lepidopteran superfamily. Its classification has not yet reached a satisfactory or stable state. The most recent classifications include only four families in the superfamily;...

 superfamily.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

is 6-9 mm. The resting position is flat, with the forewing hind margins
against each other. The hindwing venation is bifid. The head, patagia and prothorax are blackish, while the rest of the thorax and ground colour of the forewing is unicolorous dark greyish brown. All crosslines of the forewing are present and black. The fringes are grey. The hindwing is light greyish brown. The underside is unicolorous light brown, with a weakly marked postmedian line and a discal spot.

The habitat consists of warm, dry areas in open grassland with many herbaceous plants and open pine forests. There are multiple generations per year and adults have been recorded from April to October.