mothing – Page 7 – Not Very Far Away

Cosmopterix fernaldella (in red circle). C. fernaldella measures about 5 to 6 mm long. The larger moth is unidentified for now.

One looks like a positve id: Cosmopterix fernaldella (Fernald’s Cosmopterix Moth). Photos of the other three, Olethreutes glaciana (a leaf-roller moth), Olethreutes permundana (Raspberry Leaf-roller Moth), and Capis curvata (Curved Halter Moth), are little blurry but have sufficient detail I think to make a species determination. O. permundana is the only one I am not completely sure of but it seems to fall within the variation for that species.

A very detailed description of Cosmopterix fernaldella is in The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae) on pages 330 to 332.

The larva of Cosmopterix fernaldella is a leaf miner (feeds on leaf tissue in between the upper and lower surface layers of the leaf) on Carex (sedges, Family Cyperaceae). The leaves of Carex lacustris are mentioned in Insects (Diptera , Coleoptera, Lepidoptera) Reared from Wetland Monocots (Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Typhaceae) in Southern Quebec as a larval host on page 305. The US range of Cosmopterix fernaldella is from Maine to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan south to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and as far west as Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Canada it ranges from Quebec to Ontario and British Columbia. Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Cosmopterix fernaldella is in the Superfamily Gelechioidea, Family Cosmopterigidae, Subfamily Cosmopteriginae.

Olethreutes glaciana larvae feed on maple (Acer), birch (Betula), and cottonwood (Populus). Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Olethreutes permundana larvae feed on a variety of plant species from many families including meadowsweet (Spiraea salicifolia), ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), hazel (Corylus), sweetgale (Myrica), and hickory (Carya). Range map at Moth Photographers Group.

Ancylis albacostana larvae feed on maple (Acer). Range map at Moth Photographers Group. EDIT (04-13-2018): And a correction. After finding more photos of this moth in my files and going through the Plate Series at the Moth Photographers Group I think it is really Capis curvata. Larvae of C. curvata probably feed on sedges. Well, there is always this summer to find Ancylis albacostana.

Olethreutes glaciana and O. permundana are in the Superfamily Tortricoidea, Family Tortricidae, Subfamily Olethreutinae, Tribe Olethreutini and C. curvata is in the Family Noctuidae, Subfamily Eustrotiinae.

Update on Eucosma (Pelochrista) dorsisgnatana and E. (Pelochrista) similiana: I found a few photos of the latter in my August files and have added its name back to the checklist which stands at 158 species now. I knew I’d seen E. (Pelochrista) similiana before. Both species are shown below.

Both species are in the Superfamily Tortricoidea, Family Tortricidae, Subfamily Olethreutinae, Tribe Eucosmini. Recent taxonomic revisions now place many species once in Eucosma into Pelochrista. Larvae of both species feed on the roots of goldenrod (Solidago). Range maps for E. dorsisignatana and E. similiana can be found at the Moth Photographers Group.

SOURCES

D. Beadle and S. Leckie (2012). Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Boston. 640 pages.

F. Beaulieu and T. A. Wheeler (2002). Insects (Diptera , Coleoptera, Lepidoptera) Reared from Wetland Monocots (Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Typhaceae) in Southern Quebec. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. Volume 104, No. 2, pages 300 to 308.

J. C. Koster (2010). The genera Cosmopterix Hübner and Pebobs Hodges in the New World with special attention to the Neotropical fauna (Lepidoptera: Cosmopterigidae). Zoologische Mededelingen, 84 (2010), pages 251 to 575.

Bug Guide website

Moth Photographers Group website

Acrobasis betulella

Unknown Micro-moth

Crambidae

Crambus agitatellus

Chrysoteuchia topiarius

Crambus bidens

Crambidae

I’ve been going through my photos of moths from last summer and fall while the snow here slowly melts, comes back again, and then melts some more. As I go through my files of moth photos I am beginning to realize that there may be several hundred moth species in my township. At last count (March 30) I have 147 identified to species and another 175 unidentified species for a total of 322 species. That is a little bit over my original estimate of 300 species in my township. I am going to have to revise that number upwards a bit. The current estimate of moth species in the state of Minnesota where I live is placed at 1,503 so there may be another 300 or more species on top of what I have found.

Digital photos of the unidentified moths are kept in folders named Crambids (23 subfolders, some shown above), Micro-moths (35 subfolders, some shown above), Darts and Prominents (50 subfolders), Tussock Moths (6 subfolders), and many as just “Moth” (55 subfolders) for those in the Geometridae or moths I can’t place in any group. I think I may break that one up into “Geometrids” and “Others”.

There are still many more photos to sort through and the next group to be separated are the Plume Moths (Pterophoridae). This is an interesting group of moths that look like some sort of fixed-wing aircraft. There are three Plume Moths species subfolders (see below) but more might be added later. Moth caterpillars and cocoons also have their own folder called “Unknown Caterpillars” with just three species left until I find more this summer.

Plume Moth

Now that I have some of the moths separated and each in its own folder I can begin tackling identification in a more systematic way. Of course no single field guide or website will have all the species possibly present in a geographic region but by getting these photo specimens identified to family or better yet to genus I can narrow my search efforts and maybe hit upon the answer. Right now I am working on the Crambidae or Crambid Moths commonly known as Grass Veneers and Snout Moths. A few days ago the unidentified Crambid files had 29 unknowns. Now it is down to 23 unknowns after confirming three species (Crambus bidens, C. agitatellus, and Chrysoteuchia topiarius) and tentatively identifying three more (Crambus pascuella, C. perlella, and Microcrambus elegans). It is progress.

More progress below with two moth larvae tentatively identified (Acronicta impressa, Melanchra assimilis) and three with more confidence (Trichordestra legitima, Erannis tiliaria, Pyrrhia experimens). To that I should add that I have found two errors in my checklist but these are now corrected. One was in the right genus (Eucosma) but wrong species (E. dorsisgnatana not E. similiana both very similar) and the other was a species in a look-alike genus (Macrochilo litophora not Zanclognatha pedipilalis).

Acronicta impressa

Melanchra assimilis

Trichordestra legitima

Pyrrhia exprimens

Erannis tiliaria

Warm weather is still in the future it seems but when it does get here and the ice and snow start to melt I will be out in the woods and fields looking for moths and other things that are waking up after a long and sometimes cold winter.