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Species Petrophila fulicalis - Feather-edged Petrophila - Hodges#4777

Open to suggestions - Petrophila fulicalis Crambid Snout Moth - Petrophila fulicalis Feather-edged Petrophila - Petrophila fulicalis Feather-edged Petrophila - Petrophila fulicalis Feather-edged Petrophila 2 - Petrophila fulicalis Feather-edged Petrophila - Petrophila fulicalis Feather-edged Petrophila - Petrophila fulicalis Petrophila - Petrophila fulicalis
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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 Acentropinae
Tribe Argyractini
Genus Petrophila
Species fulicalis (Feather-edged Petrophila - Hodges#4777)
Hodges Number
4777
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
original combination Cataclysta fulicalis Clemens, 1860
* phylogenetic sequence # 144050
Explanation of Names
FULICALIS: the Latin word for a coot is fulica; I don't know how or whether this relates to the moth
Size
wingspan 13-18 mm, based on two Internet photos by Jim Vargo and John Glaser
Identification
Adults - forewing ground color white but mostly obscured by grayish-brown bands and dark speckling; narrow white median band across forewing is jagged near costa; three indistinct dark spots form a triangle in postmedian area; diffuse dark band across AM area; two white converging strips project inward from costa near apex; terminal band orangish, widening toward apex; hindwing white with diffuse dark median band, patch of dark speckling in postmedian area, and line of black marginal spots with a narrow dark capline over some of them.(1) See Heppner's description(2)
Range
Northeastern U.S., west to Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, south the Tennessee and n. Alabama, possibly North Carolina. Reported in Canada but specimens and images seem to be lacking. Disjunct in eastern Oklahoma and a large swath of central Texas; one report just across Rio Grande in Mexico. Range overlaps broadly in Northeast with Canadian Petrophila but seems not to overlap much if at all with Ozark Petrophila (MO, AR, OK) or Heppner's Petrophila (Texas Hill Country).(1)
Habitat
larvae live in silken webs attached to rocks in fast-flowing steams
Season
adults fly from late May to October
Food
like other members of the genus, larvae probably feed on diatoms and algae scraped from rocks in streams
See Also
Canadian Petrophila (P. canadensis) forewing lacks three dark spots in a triangular pattern, and its hindwing has a white space between two reddish bands in median area
Two-banded Petrophila (P. bifascialis) lacks black speckling on the hindwing, and lacks three dark spots forming a triangle on the forewing
Eoparargyractis irroratalis forewing has a basal line shaped like a concave arc, and has two dark bands in median area (a thick one and a thin one) separated by white space
Print References
Huffman, I.E.W (1955) The Biology of an Aquatic Pyralid, Cataclysta Fulicalis Clem. (Lepidoptera), and Its Tachinid Parasitoid, Ginglymia Acrirostris Towns. (Diptera).
Sexton, C. W. 2021. Identification and Distribution of the Petrophila fulicalis species group (Crambidae): Taking Advantage of Citizen Science Data. J. Lep. Soc. 75(2):113-127.(1)
Welch, P.S. (1922) The Respiratory Mechanism in Certain Aquatic Lepidoptera (download or read online)
Internet References
species page - Lepidoptera Barcode of Life
presence in Michigan; list - Ethan Bright, U. of Michigan
presence in Ontario; list - NHIC; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Works Cited
1.Identification and Distribution of the Petrophila fulicalis species group (Crambidae): Taking Advantage of Citizen Science Data
Sexton, C. Journal of the Lepidopterists Society 75(2):113-127.
2.Synopsis of the genus Parargyracytis (Lepidoptera: Pyralydae: Nymphulinae) in Florida
John B. Heppner. 1976. The Florida Entomologist, volume 59, number 1.