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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Fairy Moths and kin (Adeloidea) » Yucca Moths (Prodoxidae) » Prodoxinae » Greya » Greya piperella - Hodges#0189.1 (Greya piperella)

Species Greya piperella - Hodges#0189.1

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Greya piperella Greya piperella Yucca Moth - Greya piperella Prodoxidae: Greya piperella - Greya piperella White moth with Black spots - Greya piperella Small spotted moth - Greya piperella Prodoxidae: Greya piperella - Greya piperella 210012 Greya piperella - Greya piperella
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Adeloidea (Fairy Moths and kin)
Family Prodoxidae (Yucca Moths)
Subfamily Prodoxinae
Genus Greya
Species piperella (Greya piperella - Hodges#0189.1)
Hodges Number
0189.1
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Original combination Incurvaria piperella Busck, 1904
Synonymized under punctiferella Barnes and McDunnough, 1917
Elevated from synonymy of Greya punctiferrella Davis et al., 1992
Explanation of Names
The epithet piperella is derived from Latin meaning "little peppered one." (1)
Numbers
One of 16 species in the genus for North America north of Mexico.
Size
Wingspan 16.5 - 21.5 mm.
Identification
Adult - white or cream-coloured in females, sometimes with stamineous tinge in Alberta specimens; with gray tinge in male; numerous fine spots; hindwings gray.
Egss - pear-shaped, white, about 0.5 x 0.25 mm in diameter. (2)
Range
Dry interior parts of southern British Columbia to central Oregon, reaching eastward to western Montana. An isolated population is known from central-interior California. Altitudinal range, 200-2300 m. (2)
Habitat
Open, grassy coniferous forest, or on rockfaces where its host is found.
Season
May to mid-August. (2)
Food
Larvae mine in the flower peduncles of Alum-root (Heuchera cylindrica (Saxifragaceae)) (Davis et al. 1992), feeding only on meristematic tissue (Brown et al. 1994). Adults also drink nectar from the larval host (Pellmyr et al. 1996).
Life Cycle
Adults oviposit in the peduncle of the host flower one week before the flowers open (Davis et al. 1992).
Print References
Davis, Pellmyr & Thompson. 1992. Biology and systematics of Greya Busck and Tetragma, new genus (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 524: 1-74, f.251-375. (2)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - species page with photos of living and pinned adults.
E. H. Strickland Museum - size, description, habitat, food plant, life cycle
Moth Photographers Group - photo of pinned adult and related species.
BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems - species account with photograph of pinned adult and DNA sequence
Works Cited
1.Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms
Donald J. Borror. 1960. Mayfield Publishing Company.
2.Biology and systematics of Greya Busck and Tetragma, new genus (Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae).
Donald R. Davis, Olle Pellmyr & John N. Thompson. 1992. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 524: 1-74, f.251-375.
Contributed by tom murray on 26 January, 2008 - 10:42pm
Additional contributions by Bob Patterson, Maury Heiman, Aaron Schusteff, Randy Hardy
Last updated 30 October, 2021 - 10:42pm

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