Discovering the Red-streaked Mompha, a beautiful tiny moth

*Mompha eloisella* was probably attracted to the many *Oenothera biennis* plants nearby.

This is Mompha eloisella (Red-streaked Mompha), a tiny moth with beautiful satiny white wings speckled with symmetrically placed dark brown spots on the head, thorax, and wings, and red diagonal lines on the wing tips. The patterning of the wing tips resembles a face, but who or what will notice something that small and possibly be deterred by it? Or maybe that’s what the markings are for at all.

Mompha eloisella is in the family Momphidae, which worldwide contains at least 115 species. In North America, there are 45 species just in the genus Mompha and probably many more yet to be discovered and described. All are tiny and have unique patterns, often colorful, on their wings. The larvae of most Mompha species feed on plants in the Onagraceae (evening primrose family) as stem, flower, or fruit borers or as leaf miners. Mompha eloisella larvae are stem borers in evening primrose (Oenothera spp.). This one may have been attracted to the small stand of Oenothera biennis growing in my garden.

Mompha eloisella is widespread in the US, but available range maps show it as not present in Minnesota. Now we know it does occur in Minnesota, with this first sighting more than 120 miles north of a previous sighting in Wisconsin.

This isn’t the first Mompha moth I’ve seen here. There are four other species, all very tiny and beautifully patterned. The small size of these moths makes them easy to miss and difficult to photograph, but with a little effort and patience, they can be found and sometimes photographed clearly. Of course, not all of my Mompha photos are clear, but clear enough. They seem skittish, which also makes photographing them a challenge.

To attract more Mompha moths, I have planted Oenothera biennis, Epilobium angustifolium (fireweed), and let the weedy annual Epilobium coloratum (willow-herb) have a place in my flower garden. Not only are these plants food for Mompha moth larvae, but their flowers, sweet with nectar, are food sources for bees, small and large, and even hummingbirds. After blooming, the plants continue to benefit wildlife. A few days ago, I saw an eastern goldfinch in my flower garden feeding on the small seeds of evening primrose.

References and sources:

Genus Mompha https://bugguide.net/node/view/41654

Species Mompha eloisella – Red-streaked Mompha – Hodges#1443 https://bugguide.net/node/view/67246

Mompha eloisella (Clemens, 1860) http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=1443

A more technical description of this Mompha species, and several others, can be found at the Moths of North Carolina website.

Last Moths of the Year?

Possibly. Temperatures at night have gone below freezing four times since mid-September which has put an end to the songs of crickets and grasshoppers. Bees and butterflies are gone, either killed by the cold weather or hibernating. But in the last six days, I’ve seen a moth, Operophtera bruceata (Bruce Spanworm), flying in the woods. Operophtera bruceata is a brownish moth with faint markings and is in the Geometridae. On Thursday and Friday, I turned on my porch light and attracted about 25 moths each night. That’s the largest number of Operophtera bruceata I’ve ever seen at one time so this must be a boom year for them. Saturday and Sunday nights saw fewer moths and on Monday there were none.

Operophtera bruceata spends only a few weeks of its life as a moth. From late fall to May it is an egg hidden in cracks and crevices in tree bark waiting out the winter. In May and June, the larvae hatch and begin feeding. The larvae feed on a variety of common tree species but prefer aspen, sugar maple, beech, and willow. Pupation lasts until October.

Operophtera bruceata exhibits sexual dimorphism with winged males and wingless females. Apparently, this strategy works well as the moth is widespread in North America.

***Operophtera bruceata*** **showing variation in wing patterns.**

Other moths are also appearing at the lights. One is Lithophane grotei (Grote’s Pinion) which has only recently eclosed. It will not mate until next spring. Instead, Lithophane grotei will find shelter under bark or woody debris to hibernate and wait out the winter. A different life strategy from that of Operophtera bruceata. Its larvae feed on maple, birch, cherry, and apple leaves. Lithophane grotei is widespread in the northeastern US and Ontario and Quebec in Canada.

A third species at the lights was Sunira bicolorago (Bicolored Sallow). This species is common over most of the US and southern Canada east of the Mississippi River in moist forests. The larvae of Sunira bicolorago are generalist feeders of many herbaceous and woody plants and not just willows as its common name might suggest.

The fourth, and perhaps the final moth of the year, I saw was Xanthia tatago (Pink-barred Sallow). Like Sunira bicolorago, it occurs in moist forests where willows and cottonwoods grow as it is a food specialist and feeds exclusively on plants in the willow family (Salicaceae). Early larval stages feed on the catkins of willow (I can’t find any information about feeding on cottonwood catkins) and later on the leaves.

Weather forecasts over the next two weeks show decreasing day and night temperatures with highs rarely reaching the 50s and lows down in the 20s. Not unexpected weather for this time of the year. On sunny days some tiny moths or caterpillars might be out but evening mothing is probably over until March next year at the earliest. But that’s not set in stone as on December 15 last year there was this sighting of an Acleris sp. (possibly Acleris busckana). In the meantime, until temperatures are consistently at or below freezing, there will be other insects, spiders, and other small arthropods out and about waiting, I hope, to be photographed.

**Acleris sp spotted on December 15, 2021.**

SOURCES CITED

Bug Guide:

Operophtera bruceata

Lithophane grotei

Sunira bicolorago

Xanthia tatago

Pacific Northwest Moths:

Sunira bicolorago

Xanthia tatago

Moth Photographers Group:

Operophtera bruceata

Lithophane grotei

Sunira bicolorago

Xanthia tatago

Pug Moths – Eupithecia

**Eupithecia miserulata (common pug) caterpillar feeding on flowers of sawtooth sunflower (Helianthus grosseratus). This species also feeds on coneflowers in the genus Rudbeckia.**

Pug moths (Eupithecia) are a large genus (about 1,400 species) of tiny moths in the Family Geometridae (geometer moths or inchworms). There are hundreds of described species from all continents except Antarctica. Some even live on Pacific islands like the islands of Hawai’i with species whose larvae are carnivorous and catch and eat other insects. North America north of Mexico hosts at least 160 species. There are probably many more species yet to be described.

Eighteen Eupithecia species have been recorded from Minnesota. Some are known from five or fewer sightings in the state. I haven’t found all eighteen yet but have gotten to one-third of that number and that includes some of the rarities. The most common one is Eupithecia miserulata, a small grayish species with a dark dot on each of its forewings, faint scalloped lines on the wings, and often two or three dark dots along the costa. This moth can be variable and it is easy to confuse it with other species. I often find the yellowish larvae in July and August feeding on the anthers of black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) flowers, cut-leaf coneflower (R. laciniata), and sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus). The larvae of E. miserulata are also reported to feed on oak, willow, and juniper.

Larval host preferences are not known for the other Eupithecia I’ve found except for E. strattonata (alder and spiraea), E. absinthiata (mugwort, wormwood, yarrow), and E. ravocostaliata (willow, cherry, birch and other woody plants).

Below are the six species I’ve found and been able to identify.

CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Larentiinae
Tribe Eupitheciini
Genus Eupithecia

SOURCES

Bug Guide

Moth Photographers Group

Wikipedia

Hawaiian Carnivorous Caterpillar — Eupithecia

Another fungus eating moth

***Metalectra quadrisignata (four-spotted fungus moth)*** **from Carlton County, Minnesota**

But not in Tineidae. This moth, Metalectra quadrisignata (four-spotted fungus moth), in the Family Erebidae, Subfamily Boletobiinae is yet another addition to the species checklist. The first syllables in the name Boletobiinae are “bolet” from “bolete” which is a name given to a vast group of species of mushrooms with large caps free from the stems and producing spores from pores, not gills. So, Metalectra quadrisignata is in the Subfamily Mushroom-iinae. Presumably, the larva of many or most of the members in this subfamily are fungivores but full life histories for species is incomplete. Larvae of Metalectra quadrisignata feed on bracket fungi preferring living or actively growing fruiting bodies. What species or even order is not specified. Some photos at Bug Guide show larva on a gilled mushroom and a slime mold which is not a fungus. It is unclear if they larvae were consuming these. I’ll need to start looking more carefully at these types of fungus.