Thanks Edward

A. camptogramma: "Nearest unifasciella Busck, but that species is much larger..."

See comments here:

Hal uses this fabric for other pics such as this:

He estimates an 8 mm FW on that one, and it's 7 dimples long. His 4 mm estimate for the subject image is probably about right, then. And, MPG places A. camptogramma deep in the heart of Texas.

The dimples are 1.25mm apart along the rows, and 2.5 mm diagonally across a square

If the dimple center to dimple center distance along a row is 1.25 mm, then the dimple center to dimple center distance along the diagonal is the square root of 2 times that, or about 1.78 mm, not 2.5 mm. So, I don't know what you are measuring. If you measure the distance from the center of one dimple to the center of another dimple along a row, say, 20 columns away, then divide by 20, that would be an accurate way to measure the number I'm asking for.

I myself use an 80 by 100 threads-per-inch cloth sheet, and use that to measure moths, like here:

Your dimple spacing is much larger and easier to use for such an application (less counting and more resolvable). Where do you get such fabric?

I'm away from home this weekend but will be home again Monday evening. I'll re-measure the distances then and forward you my measurements. Thanks for taking an interest in this. Getting IDs on these micros is difficult and every input helps.

Hal

Per Ed Ruden's suggestion, I re-measured the spacing of the dimples on my moth cloth. The dimples are 1.35mm apart, center-to-center, along the side of each square. Diagonally across the square, the distance is 1.91 mm, center-to-center.

Thanks. Size is clearly a key feature of this species needed to identify it, but I found no quantitative reference for it. So, I took a strip of paper and laid it across your dorsal view and made a ruler of sorts, with one division per dimple. Using that, I measured the FW length to be 3.1 dimples, or 4.2 mm = 3.1 dimples * 1.35 mm/dimple. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to measure and record it in the field, leaving more time for taking pics. I'll edit your own estimate with this more accurate number.

So, where did you get such fabric? I'd like to get some.

Thanks Edward. The fabric is a frost cloth used for covering garden plants on cold winter nights. My wife bought it several years ago, and is not certain where. Either Home Depot in the garden department , or a store called Natural Gardener in Austin, TX. If you can't find it, send me a mailing address and I'll mail you a piece of it.

We have an Home Depot in town I can check out. A small sample won't be of any use since I need to replace a queen-size bed sheet:

Your fabric is not woven, but a synthetic felt (with random fibers pressed together). This makes an ideal surface for bugs to hook their tarsi into. The dimples appear to be spot-welds which fuse the fibers in place. I don't think all frost blankets have such welds, so I'll have to see the material up close before buying.

It would be easily overlooked due to its very tiny size

since there is a popular belief that there are so many thus identification is not likely. And small things are not always interesting to everyone, even dedicated moth people!