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For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Urola nivalis - Snowy Urola - Hodges#5464

moth?2 - Urola nivalis 5464 Snowy Urola Moth - Urola nivalis Crambidae: Urola nivalis - Urola nivalis Moth - Urola nivalis Snowy Urola - Urola nivalis Urola nivalis Urola nivalis - Snowy Urola - Hodges#5464 - Urola nivalis Pennsylvania Moth - Urola nivalis
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Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
Subfamily Crambinae (Crambine Snout Moths)
Tribe Argyriini
Genus Urola
Species nivalis (Snowy Urola - Hodges#5464)
Hodges Number
5464
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Urola nivalis (Drury, 1773)
original combination Phalaena nivalis Drury, 1773
= Hydrocampa nivalis; in Emmons (1854) Ag. of N.Y. 5: 233
syn. Geometra argentata Emmons, 1854; synonymy in Grote (1875) Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Sci. 2: 166
syn. Urola michrochysella Walker, 1863; synonymy in Fernald (1880) No. Am. Ent. 1: 100
syn. Argyria fimbrialis Dyar, 1914; Rpt. Lep. Smithsonian Bio. Surv. Panama Canal 47: 317
= Argyria nivalis Dyar, 1914; in Fernald (1880) No. Am. Ent. 1: 100
* phylogenetic sequence #162800
Size
wingspan 15-23 mm (1)
Identification
Silvery-white wings with a "satin" sheen. Rests with wings folded over body, tent-like. Head and palps white. Has small dark mark at midpoint of inner margin of forewing (based on description by Lynn Scott). Hindwing translucent white(1)
Range
Eastern North America: southern Canada, Maine, south to Florida, west to Illinois, Texas. Common in South
Season
May-September, 2 flights
Food
Larvae said to feed on grasses(1)
Larvae pest of Ligustrum(2)
See Also
Milky Urola (Argyria lacteella) is very similar but has dark spots on forewing:
  
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Argyria nummulalis forewing has orange strip extending along inner margin, and head and palps are orange:
  
Print References
Covell, p. 404, plate 48-20(1)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - species page with photographs of living and pinned adults.
Butterflies and Moths of North America - species page with range maps and photographs of living adult.
Texas A&M University - pest status and county record.
Lynn Scott's Lepidoptera - photographs of living adults and species notes.
Works Cited
1.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.