This may be true but this moth is quite different than S.caesiella, photographically. The white does not extend onto the collar for one obvious difference. MPG shows this clearly. There are no photos for any Paraswammerdamia species so I wouldn't say there isn't one that is similar to this, I just don't see any evidence for that conclusion. I will be on the watch for such evidence but I still believe it is S.pyrella.

I would agree but I specifically asked about the white in the thorax and was told dissection was still required. I checked BOLD and there are examples of S. caesiella which lack white in the collar, though I think that's due at least in part to the poor condition of the specimens. MPG's pinned example of S. pyrella has a white thorax but I suspect it is misidentified/mislabelled. Also, I see no way to separate this from S. beirnei, holotype: Burnaby, BC, though that may not be a valid species.

There is at least one species in Paraswammerdamia from the Seattle/Vancouver area which I can't distinguish from your example. See info by Landry et al. (2013) (1) p. 4 & 83 as it relates to P. lutarea, now P. nebulella, BOLD images here. There is a good quality image, sample ID CNCLEP00077327, at BOLD of one of those samples:


I updated the Info page with links to the four currently recognized species in Paraswammerdamia. The less similar P. albicapitella is also found in the Seattle/Vancouver area but again, it may not be possible to eliminate as a possibility without dissection/DNA.

I appreciate the work you and others do. Very thorough.