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

Species Athrips mouffetella - Ten-spotted Honeysuckle Moth - Hodges#1852

Ten-spotted Honeysuckle Moth  Athrips mouffetella Hodges# 01852 - Athrips mouffetella Athrips mouffetella Ten-spotted Honeysuckle Moth - Athrips mouffetella Athrips mouffetella A Gelechiid Moth - Athrips mouffetella Athrips mouffetella Athrips mouffetella Athrips mouffetella
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 Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)
Family Gelechiidae (Twirler Moths)
Subfamily Gelechiinae
Tribe Gelechiini
Genus Athrips
Species mouffetella (Ten-spotted Honeysuckle Moth - Hodges#1852)
Hodges Number
1852
Other Common Names
dotted grey moth
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Athrips mouffetella (Linnaeus, 1758), Epithectis mouffetella
Size
Wingspan c. 15mm; 9 mm long.
Identification
Head: Brownish-gray. Palpi same, underside of segment 2 darker, thick. Segment 3 narrow, ½ as long as 2, tips pointed; light with brown ring near tip.
Antenna: Brownish-gray with faint white rings.
Thorax: Brownish-gray.
Wings: Forewings brownish-gray with two sets of 4 black dots arched across both wings. One or two fainter black dots and a faint streak near wing base and a faded series of black dots around wing tip. Fringe slightly grayer with a lighter stripe through it. Hindwings grayish white, mottled. Fringe long and gray.
Legs: Dark brownish-gray, ringed with white. Hind thigh (femora) white, hairy (scaled), long spurs.
Abdomen: Dark brownish-gray.
Note: Information taken from websites in England and Europe.
Genitalia:
Range
Europe. US. Perhaps introduced
In Ontario since 2005 (per BugGuide), Quebec, Massachusetts, Texas and Oklahoma
Habitat
Forest edges, field edges, gardens.
Season
July to September in North America.
In Europe, the adults are found from June to August. (1)
Food
Larvae feed on Lonicera spp. (Honeysuckle) including the invasive Lonicera tatarica and Snowberry Symphoricarpos
Life Cycle
One generation per year. Larva feed in silked-together leaves at twig tips in May and June. Larvae are dark gray to black. Head and shield are always black. First two thorax segments have a double white dash at center top. The first 5 segments have a broken white line along each side. Feet and tail lighter. Pupa is entirely covered in the typical hard, reddish covering.
The European Honeysuckle Ypsolopha dentella larva also feed on honeysuckle in silked-together leaves, but they are green with a purplish-red dorsal (top) stripe. The pupa remains in a silken wrap with pointed ends on top of a leaf.
Remarks
In England adults fly at night from July to September
Works Cited
1.Microlepidoptera of Europe: Gelechiidae I
Peter Huemer, C. Gielis, Ole Karsholt, Leif Lyneborg. 1999. Apollo Books.