Species Grotellaforma lactea - Hodges#9042

9042

Cisthene lactea Stretch, 1885, Ent. Americana, 1: 103.

Grotella calora Barnes, 1907, Can. Ent., 39: 68.

Wing length: mean = 8.75 mm, standard deviation = 0.49 mm, n = 10.

From Nearctica.com:

"Grotellaforma lactea is a small, nearly pure white, species of the southwestern United States and Baja California del Norte. The forewing is white with the maculation reduced to a few black dots representing the antemedial and postmedial lines. In some individuals even these black dots may be completely absent. The hindwing is white but most individuals are suffused with dull gray...

...This species could easily be confused with some species of Grotella, in particular Grotella stretchii, sampita, or septempunctata. The absence of tibial spines and the near absence of a frontal process will immediately separate lactea from any species of the genus Grotella. Grotellaforma lactea could also be confused with Homolagoa grotelliformis (a genus in the Eustrotiinae), but grotelliformis is a larger species; average wing length from base to apex is 8.75 mm in lactea, but approximately 11 mm in grotelliformis. Both species have black dots representing the forewing antemedial and postmedial lines. The dots are very small, few, and sometimes absent in lactea. In contrast the black dots are much more conspicuous in grotelliformis, three dots representing the antemedial line and four or five dots the postmedial line. A black dot is always present on the costa near the base of the wing in grotelliformis, but no such dot exists in lactea. A degenerate central protuberance is present in both species, but the protuberance is located near the clypeal margin in lactea, but close to the line connecting the antennal bases in grotelliformis."

SE CA, SW AZ, extreme S NV, and NW Mexico

Flies March-April in AZ, as well as in CA but with second brood during July-September in CA

Unknown

Grotella stretchi and other Grotella species

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Robert W. Poole nearctica.com