Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Tinea pellionella - Casemaking clothes moth - Hodges#0405

Tinea pellionella ? - Tinea pellionella wool case from a casemaking clothes moth - Tinea pellionella Brown Moth With Bushy Head - Tinea pellionella Caterpillar-like thing in sheath - Tinea pellionella Casemaking clothes moth - Tinea pellionella Casemaking clothes moth - Tinea pellionella Casemaking clothes moth - Tinea pellionella yellow-headed micro moth - Tinea pellionella
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Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Tineoidea (Tubeworm, Bagworm, and Clothes Moths)
Family Tineidae (Clothes Moths)
Subfamily Tineinae
Genus Tinea
Species pellionella (Casemaking clothes moth - Hodges#0405)
Hodges Number
0405
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Tinea pellionella Linnaeus, 1758
Phalaena zoolegella Scopoli, 1763
Tinea albella Costa, [1836]
Tinea demiurga Meyrick, 1920
Tinea gerasimovi Zagulajev, 1978
* phylogenetic sequence #011950
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet pellionella is from Latin pellis, meaning "skin, hide." (1)
Size
Forewing length 4.3-7 mm. (2)
Identification
Larva - constructs a flat, oval case of silk and fibers, often multi-colored, depending on what they are feeding on. (2)
Range
From the Old World, introduced species.
Food
Feed on wool, feathers, fur, hair, upholstered furniture, leather, fish meals, milk powders, lint, dust or paper. Often infesting carpets, especially in damp areas. (2)
Works Cited
1.An accentuated list of the British Lepidoptera, with hints on the derivation of the names.
Anonymous. 1858. The Entomological Societies of Oxford and Cambridge.
2.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.