Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Acrolophus - Tubeworm Moths

Acrolophus, top view - Acrolophus arcanella Piger Tubeworm Moth - Acrolophus piger - male Rams head moth - Acrolophus mortipennella Which Acrolophus, please? - Acrolophus propinqua Acrolophus species - Acrolophus walsinghami Acrolophus sp. - Acrolophus texanella Frilly Grass Tubeworm? - Acrolophus griseus Eastern Grass Tubeworm  - Acrolophus popeanella
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 Tineoidea (Tubeworm, Bagworm, and Clothes Moths)
Family Tineidae (Clothes Moths)
Subfamily Acrolophinae (Burrowing Webworm Moths)
Genus Acrolophus (Tubeworm Moths)
Other Common Names
Grass Tubeworm Moths
Grass Tubeworms (larvae)
Pronunciation
ə-KROH-loh-fus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Acrolophus Poey, 1832
Anaphora Clemens, 1859
Derchis Walker, 1863
Hibita Walker, 1863
Tirasia Walker, 1863
Eddara Walker, 1863 (preocc. Walker, 1858)
Bazira Walker, 1864
Phlongia Walker, 1864
Urbara Walker, 1864
Tachasara Walker, 1865
Eutheca Grote, 1881 (preocc. Kiesenwetter, 1877)
Eulepiste Walsingham, 1882
Pseudoconchylis Walsingham, 1884
Homonymus Walsingham, 1887
Neolophus Walsingham, 1887
Hypoclopus Walsingham, 1887
Thysanoscelis Walsingham, 1887
Ankistrophorus Walsingham, 1887
Caenogenes Walsingham, 1887
Felderia Walsingham, 1887
Ortholophus Walsingham, 1887
Pseudanaphora Walsingham, 1887
Sapinella Kirby, 1892
Atopocera Walsingham, 1897
Pilanophora Walsingham, 1897
Apoclisis Walsingham, 1914
Anaphorina Strand, 1932

formerly placed in the family Tineidae
All of Walker's and Waslingham's numerous genera were subsequently synonymized under Acrolophus. See Hasbrouck's discussion in his 1964 revision (link below).
Acrolophus was included within the family Acrolophidae by Davis & Robinson in 1999 (Butterflies and Moths of the World)
Explanation of Names
Generic epithet from Greek άχρόλοφος signifying "that which carries a plume to the extremity." Poey explains that he "made use of it to show that the palpi are covered with elongated scales up to the extremity; it is in this that they differ from ordinary Tineids." (1)
Numbers
53 species in North America (2)
Identification
Adult: at rest, wings held roof-like over the abdomen; head and thorax usually hairy, and hairy labial palps often held over the head, giving an overall furry-headed appearance
Larva: gray or dirty white with a brown head
Key to species as of 1964: Moths of the family Acrlophidae in America North of Mexico (Hasbrouck, 1964)

A post on iNaturalist describes how to distinguish the 16 described eastern species here.
Range
southwestern and eastern United States as far north as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
Season
adults from May onward
Food
larvae feed on soil detritus and the roots of grasses and other plants
Life Cycle
larvae typically create silken tubes in the soil and feed at the surface on grass thatch or roots (3)
Print References
Covell, pp. 451-452, plate 62--under Tineidae (4)
Davis, 1990. (5)
Hasbrouck, F.F. 1964. (checklist, descriptions, key) (1)
Internet References
classification of genus Acrolophus in Acrolophidae (Butterflies and Moths of the World)
Moth Photographers Group - Pinned Specimens
Works Cited
1.Moths of the family Acrolophidae in America north of Mexico (Microlepidoptera)
Frank F. Hasbrouck. 1964. Proceedings of The United States National Museum 114: 487-706.
2.Nearctica: Nomina Insecta Nearctica
3.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
4.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
5.Three new species of Acrolophus from the southeastern United States , with remarks on the status of the .....
D. R. Davis. 1990. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 92(4): 694-704.