A butterfly

Mustard White Butterfly (Pieris oleracea)

I saw this butterfly yesterday while working in my garden spreading old hay around rhubarb and currant bushes. It had probably just emerged from its chrysalis earlier in the morning and was finishing up drying its wings. The butterfly is the Mustard White Butterfly (Pieris oleracea) a species native to North America and occurs in Canada from the Northwest Territories south to Alberta and then east to the Atlantic seaboard. In the US it can be found from North Dakota to Maine.

The green larva with a single white or pale yellow lateral line and small black spots feed on members of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), such as rock cress (Arabis spp., Boechera spp., and Draba spp.), cuckoo flower and bittercress (Cardamine spp.), and toothwort (Dentaria spp.). There are usually two or three generations a summer with the last generation overwintering as a chrysalis.

Adult Mustard White Butterflies come in a spring and summer forms. The one in the photo is the spring form. Summer forms have less dark shading on the wing upper surfaces and the lower surface veins are also less dark. Adults feed on nectar usually from mustard family plants.

Previously Mustard White Butterfly was considered to be in the species Pieris napi, a European species commonly called the Green-veined White. They are regarded as distinct enough to be classed as separate species although some authorities consider the North American P. oleracae to be a subspecies of P. napi (synonym Artogeia napi) calling it Pieris napi subsp. oleracea. P. oleracae differs from P. napi by having chalky white upper wings while P. napi has dark spots and dark margins on the upper wings. Another difference is the tolerance of P. napi for garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) which is toxic to the larvae of P. oleraceae and thus a serious concern for the species survival where this plant occurs in North America to which it is not native.

Taxonomy

Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Pieridae (Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows)
Subfamily Pierinae (Whites)
Tribe Pierini (Cabbage Whites, Checkered Whites, Albatrosses)
Genus/species: Pieris oleracea

SOURCES

Bowden, S. R. (1979). Subspecific Variation in Butterflies: Adaptation and Dissected Polymorphism in Pieris (Artogeia) (Pieridae). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society
33(2):77-111.

Heinen R., Gols R., and Harvey J. A. (2016). Black and Garlic Mustard Plants Are Highly Suitable for the Development of Two Native Pierid Butterflies. Environmental Entomology, Vol. 45 (3):671–676.

Mustard White (Pieris oleracea) (Harris, 1829) at the Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility website.

Pieris oleracea at the Wikipedia website.

Species Pieris oleracea – Mustard White – Hodges#4195.1 at the Bug Guide website.

Acleris celiana?

These tiny Tortricid moths with white stripes along their wing margins are really confusing me. On Monday I wrote about a moth that didn’t seem to be a close fit with the description for the species Ancylis albacostana which I thought it might be. It was by accident I figured it out. The moth is Acleris celiana and not an Ancylis at all. I was out on my porch Monday night sipping espresso and taking photos of little moths, caddisflies, and some sort of wasp (a species of Ophion I think) when this same kind of moth flew in. I got one shot before it took off and had to wait awhile before it came back and I could get more shots. Later, while going through photos on the Moth Photographers Group (MPG) trying to figure out another species I came across this which looks a lot like the moth I had just found. I have posted the images on Bug Guide and BAMONA and am awaiting comments on the species identity. (Update on 05-29-18: Bug Guide says it is Acleris celiana not Ancylis albacostana.)

Coleman first described Acleris celiana in 1869 under the name Teras celiana. “Anterior wings rich dark chocolate-brown slightly mottled with dark gray. There is a tuft of pale ochreous scales on the center of the disk, and beyond, in the apical portion of the wing a few scattered similarly colored raised scales. Fringes gray.” There is no mention of the white band. However, both Bug Guide and MPG show specimens of Acleris celiana with and without white bands.

Kearfott’s description of Ancylis albacosana reads “Fore wing lead color, rather heavily overlaid on inner two-thirds below the costa (main vein along leading edge of wing) with brownish and blackish scales. From the base to the apex on the costa is a pure white band, widest at end of cell, where it is nearly a quarter the width of wing; continuing to base with only a trifle less width, and lower edge curving evenly into costa and ending in a point at apex.”

I’m leaning strongly towards Acleris celiana on this one. Finding Ancylis albacostana would be great but the species is not, as far as I know, documented from Minnesota although there is at least one record from adjacent Wisconsin.

As for the rest of Monday night’s mothing, I found three more moth species and got a very clean shot of the caddisfly Glyphopsyche irrorata. Two of the moths are in Agonopterix (possibly A. canadensis and A. clemensella) and one is another Acleris (possibly Acleris forbesana). And now it is 10:10 PM Tuesday night and I’m staying up late looking for more moths. So far I have two new ones to figure out.

Glyphopsyche irrorata

Agonopterix canadensis (?)

Agonopterix clemensella (?)

Acleris forbesana (?)

SOURCES

Kearfott, William Dunham (1905). Descriptions of New Species of Tortricid Moths From North Carolina, With Notes. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. 28: 319-364. Description on page 360.

Robinson, Coleman, T. (1869). Notes on American Tortricidae. Transaction of the American Entomological Society (1867-1877). Vol. 2 (1868/1869):261-288. Description on page 283-284.

Genus Ophion – Short-tailed Ichneumon Wasps at Bug Guide.

Species Acleris celiana – Hodges#3533 at Bug Guide.

620033.00 – 3533 – Acleris celiana – (Robinson, 1869) at Moth Photographers Group.

It was a dark and stormy night

And warm, too, at a sweltering 50° F, so I made plans to be up late looking for moths and caddisflies. I turned on the porch light, made a little cup of espresso, and waited awhile. When I went out I almost couldn’t believe what I saw: Ancylis albacostana. The broad white band on the forewings certainly seemed to point to that species. But there were some differences. First, the wings are not uniformly leaden gray. Instead, there is a very noticeable amount of red forming a narrow triangle above the white band and is separated from that by a narrow black line. Then, below the white band is a narrow ash gray band. The main part of the forewings are leaden-gray. Finally, near the beginning of the forewings are two raised bumps. When I compared this moth to available photos it seemed not match well at all. The description of Ancylis albacostana by Kearfott is also at odds with this moth’s appearance. In an earlier post (here) I stated I had found Ancylis albacostana but later retracted that (there) when it appeared the moth in question was actually Capis curvata.

Also attracted to the light last night were five individuals of the caddisfly Glyphopsyche irrorata and three of the moth Agonopterix argillacea. I’ll be up late again tonight to get more photos of this Ancylis and other moths.

SOURCES

Species Ancylis albacostana – White-edged Ancylis Moth – Hodges#3387 at Bug Guide.

Four new finds in the moth photo files and a rediscovery

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