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Photo#1024348
Parornix quadripunctella - Parornix dubitella

Parornix quadripunctella - Parornix dubitella
Nantucket, Nantucket County, Massachusetts, USA
August 15, 2014
Size: 4.7 mm
Reared from chokeberry. I tried using Dietz's key and arrived at Parornix arbutifoliella, which is the only species known from chokeberry. His illustration doesn't really look like this, but his description was based on just two specimens, so maybe it didn't capture the full range of variation of the species. Seems like the best name to give this moth for the moment, in any case.

Moved
Moved from Parornix quadripunctella.

Steven Whitebread says:
"I think your 'P. quadripunctella' on Bugguide is actually P. dubitella. The two species are almost identical, but the palpi of dubitella are usually (but not always) dark. I have reared dubitella from chokeberry, but what I now know is quadripunctella I have only reared from apple, P. dubitella is extremely common and goes on many different hosts, but I have only found quadripunctella at Burrage WMA on Malus sieboldii (I have also found dubitella on this host)."

I'll try to confirm by dissection, once I get more confident with that!

Moved
Moved from Parornix arbutifoliella.
Now that I've spent some more time staring at these, I think this is a better match, and this is where the key takes me. It happens to be the only other species that has been reared from chokeberry. Where I went wrong in the key before was in misinterpreting where the third palpal joint starts. Notice that these palps are mostly dark, whereas the ones in John Lee's photo are entirely pale.

Boy they all do really look alike, don't they!
Not many identified images on MPG and the one that is looks the same!

 
That one falls right next to arbutifoliella in the key
The difference is that in arbutifoliella, the fifth costal stria from the tip is supposed to be prolonged to the dorsal margin. While that isn't exactly the case with my moth, it does have a dark dorsal smudge that John Lee's moth doesn't have. Since P. obliterella feeds on river birch, I decided that smudge counted!

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