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Species Cisthene barnesii - Barnes' Lichen Moth - Hodges#8074

Cisthene barnesii - 8074 - Cisthene barnesii Tortricid or Pyralid - Cisthene barnesii Cisthene barnesii? - Cisthene barnesii Moth, dorsal - Cisthene barnesii Thin-banded Lichen Moth (Cisthene tenuifascia)? - Cisthene barnesii Barnes' Lichen Moth - Cisthene barnesii Barnes' Lichen Moth - Cisthene barnesii Cisthene barnesii
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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Erebidae
Subfamily Arctiinae (Tiger and Lichen Moths)
Tribe Lithosiini (Lichen Moths)
Subtribe Cisthenina
Genus Cisthene
Species barnesii (Barnes' Lichen Moth - Hodges#8074)
Hodges Number
8074
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Cisthene barnesii (Dyar, 1904)
Illicae unifascia var. barnesi Dyar, 1904
Illice flavula Barnes & McDunnough 1918
Phylogenetic sequence # 930191
Explanation of Names
Named in honor of entomologist Dr. William Barnes (1860-1930).
Numbers
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) included twenty species of the genus Cisthene in North America north of Mexico.(1)
Size
Forewing length 8-12 mm.(2)
Identification
Similar to several other Cisthene lichen moths, particularly Thin-banded: wings slate gray with orange on thorax, basal streak on FWs, and variable PM band. Most importantly, on Barnes' the top of head (vertex) is gray (but collar and tegulae usually orange); basal streak narrow; PM orange band typically very narrow or broken into 2 or 3 spots or virtually absent. Fairly consistently (82% of examples), the outer (distal) margin of the PM band or its outline is slightly convex; this compares to a straight or slightly concave margin of that band in Thin-banded.
Range
Widespread in the s. and cen. Rocky Mountain states from AZ and NM north through most of UT and CO, with scattered reports in ID, WY, and perhaps strays to the n. Great Plains in ND; ranges E to central Texas (Edwards Plateau). (3), (2)
Habitat
Although it has been described as a "Rocky Mountain species"(4), it is most commonly associated with mid-elevation foothills and pinyon-juniper (AZ-NM) or juniper-oak woodlands (TX).
Season
The adults are most common from July to September.
See Also
Most similar to Thin-banded Lichen Moth (C. tenuifascia) but the vast majority of individuals will be distinguished by the gray vertex (top of head), where Thin-banded has an orange vertex. (The collar--separating the head from the thoracic disk--is usually orange in both species.)
Compare on plates of Moth Photographers Group.
Print References
Dyar, H.G. 1904. Descriptions of new forms of the genus Illice Walker. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 6(1): 198
Knowlton, 1967:89 (4)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl.46.23m, 46.24m, p.265 (2)
Sexton, C., and H. McGuinness. 2017. Identification of lichen moths in the genus Cisthene in the central and eastern U.S. South. Lep. News (39(4):309-322.