Six-Plume Moth - Alucita montana

interesting development

Apparently, Bernard and Jean-François Landry have determined that Alucita hexadactyla doesn't occur in North America, but that three other species of Alucita do.
Of those species, only the range of A. montana extends to the west coast (from California to British Columbia), so I assume that's what this one must be. See more info on the species and genus pages.
All this was news to me.

… Robin McLeod, 6 February, 2006 - 3:29pm

Alucita

Thanks for the info. There's probably lots of similar situations with other species but only a few people trying to sort it out. Should I label it Alucita montana?

… John Davis, 6 February, 2006 - 5:49pm

Seems safe to me

...given the range info listed for montana versus the others; I moved the image from the moths page to the new species page.
You're right about the similar situations - there's probably more to come, and a number that have been sorted out in the recent past. One example that comes to mind is the Flame-shouldered Dart, thought for years to be the Palearctic Ochropleura plecta until Lafontaine distinguished it as a separate species and named it Ochropleura implecta.

… Robin McLeod, 7 February, 2006 - 11:49am