Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Cisthene Walker, 1854
Numbers
The genus
Cisthene includes 20 described species listed for America, north of Mexico.
(1)(2)(3)Identification
Small, day-flying, brightly-colored moths. See this
Key to Texas species of Cisthene on iNaturalist for the newest information on identification in the field and from photos. See also Sexton & McGuinness in print materials.
(3)
***Note: Several images on Moth Photographer's Group remain misplaced, particularly on the pages for the widely misunderstood Cisthene unifascia, C. tenuifascia, and C. subrufa.
Food
larval hosts are algae and lichens, adults take nectar.
Life Cycle
Adults, at least partly, day-flying. Larvae feed on lichens and overwinter on tree trunks. Pupation in modest cocoon in crevices among lichens
(4)Remarks
Cisthene and other Lithosiine larvae are frass shooters that fire their fecal pellets up to 20 times the length of their bodies.
(4) See Also
Other lichen moths, such as Hypoprepia.
Print References
Covell, pp. 60-61, plate 12.
(5)
Knowlton, C.B., 1967. A revision of the species of
Cisthene known to occur north of the Mexican border (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae: Lithosiinae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 93(1): 41-100.
(1)
Knudson, Ed, and Charles Bordelon. 2010. Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Texas. Texas Lep. Surv. Publ. No. 6.
(6)
Sexton, C., and H. McGuinness. 2017. Identification of lichen moths in the genus Cisthene in the central and eastern U.S. Southern Lep. News (39(4):309-322.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - pinned adult photos of all North American species.
