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Photo#105617
Bagworm Moth? - Dahlica triquetrella

Bagworm Moth? - Dahlica triquetrella
Dummer, Coos County, New Hampshire, USA
April 24, 2007

Images of this individual: tag all
Bagworm Moth? - Dahlica triquetrella Bagworm Moth? - Dahlica triquetrella

Yes, looks like
Dahlica triquetrella. I also found some a week ago, and are rearing them to see what comes out.

 
Dahlica triquetrella
Stephen, thanks for the species id. It'll be interesting to see what the adult looks like.

 
Did you collect it?
We need photos for adults of this species. The two larvae that I collected have pupated, but at least one has been parasitized.

 
Yes
I still have it. I'll see if it matures.

 
Or it might be...
a Casebearing Clothes-Moth (Pheroeca):



I have my doubts about at least some of the Dahlica triquetrellas. It will be good to have an adult this time to do a proper ID.

 
Adults
According to this page, D. triquetrella is parthenogenic in North America--there are no males. Female bagworms lay eggs and die inside their bags, so it's apparently impossible to see an adult of this species in North America (unless you cut one open to see the wingless female inside).

Also, it would seem that the triangular cross section of Dahlica's case, and the southerly distribution of Pheroeca, should make it easy to distinguish the two... but maybe the ones you were suspicious about have been moved since you made this comment last year.

 
I agree.
My first thought was the 'household casebearer' as well.

 
location found
This was climbing up a rock alongside a river. Would that preclude it from being a clothes moth?

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