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Photo#851479
small moth - Mompha undescribed-species-on-epilobium-canum

small moth - Mompha undescribed-species-on-epilobium-canum
Del Puerto Canyon, Stanislaus County, California, USA
October 3, 2013
Size: 5mm
I'm trying to find the cause of some Epilobium canum galls, so am trying to rear the inducer from galls collected a month ago (Sept 7). See photos of the Epilobium galls here:



This moth emerged a day or so ago. The galls are VERY leafy and I'm thinking this moth just happened to pupate among the leaves where I would not have noticed it. I've already cut out one cecid larva from another of these galls, so I think they are cecid galls. This moth is as long as the longest gall, so I don't think it could have come out of one of the galls. But it would be helpful to know what this moth is in case it's a gall inducer...

Images of this individual: tag all
small moth - Mompha undescribed-species-on-epilobium-canum small moth - Mompha undescribed-species-on-epilobium-canum

Moved
Moved from Mompha.
Some Mompha species do in fact cause flower galls. I wonder if the cecid larva was an inquiline, or if there were actually two types of galls? Other Mompha species are leafminers and stem borers...

Moved
Moved from Twirler Moths.

Moved
Moved from Moths.

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