Bee Nest Vitula Moth - Vitula edmandsii

Vitula edmandsii

Thanks for tracking down the ID, Bob. Moved from Pyralid Moths to new species page.

This species is definitely not common around our place, as I'm sure I've never seen one, and I always shoot and check every moth, regardless of how "bland" it might be.

… Robin McLeod, 2 June, 2007 - 11:39am

6007 -- Bee Nest Vitula Moth -- Vitula edmandsii

Identified by Brian Scholtens. In his MONA monograph, Neunzig (1990) reports that larvae are found in nests of Bumble Bees, Honey Bees and possibly also of other Hymenoptera. They form tubelike protective enclosure of silk and feed mostly on pollen, honey and immature Hymenoptera. On the same date that you photographed this moth I got the other species in this genus (V. broweri) that is found in eastern North America (several additional Vitula are found in the west).

… Bob Patterson, 31 May, 2007 - 4:39pm

Thanks Bob

for taking the time to get this moth identified ... I was thinking that it might not even get this far. I'm a bit surprised that these moths (or genus) are not in the Guide yet, considering that their host species are abundant insects. Perhaps the moths themselves are not that common...
Would you say it's safe enough to make a new guide page for the image?

… Stephen Luk, 31 May, 2007 - 6:56pm

It Is Common. But I think photographers may tend to...

... overlook the bland stuff. I've got more than one confusing and unidentifiable (from photos) gray pyralid that visits my lights. I'll be looking at them more closely now.

Of course, put it in the Guide.

… Bob Patterson, 31 May, 2007 - 7:01pm

That's what I thought

There were few interesting moths that night, so I turned to the bland stuff instead. I'll post a request for new page for the image.

… Stephen Luk, 31 May, 2007 - 8:42pm

I Got One of These Last Night!

My specimen was not as cooperative as yours and I was trying out a lens that produced out-of-pocus pictures, but having an idea of what to look for helped.

… Bob Patterson, 1 June, 2007 - 10:21am

Great! The bland-looking moths suddenly stand out...

once we know what to look for...
My specimen wasn't that cooperative, actually. It was only after a long time and many escape attempts later (I shoot some of my moths indoors against a leaf backdrop) that the moth settled down and adopted a more restful, sometimes twig-like posture, allowing me to compose a shot.

… Stephen Luk, 1 June, 2007 - 1:39pm