Orange-banded silver-trimmed black micromoth - Cosmopterix montisella

Keys out to C. montisella using Hodges' MONA fascicle

I suspect the antennae on Koster's Fig. 74 are incorrect. The wings look right though. Moved from Cosmopterix.

… Kyhl Austin, 2 December, 2016 - 7:21pm

Thanks

for the extra effort on this one.

… Timothy Reichard, 2 December, 2016 - 10:39pm

Cosmopterix montisella?

Both Allen Ratzlaff (iNaturalist) and Roger Downer (BAMONA) concurred on Cosmopterix montisella. Agree?

What's a good source (Kyhl's pdf document?) to use to ID the species in this genus?

… Timothy Reichard, 23 December, 2015 - 10:18am

montisella antennae

C. montisella antennae:
"antenna shining dark brown,
a short white line from base with an interrupted subdistal section of three to four segments, this white line varies in length,
followed towards apex by three dark brown,
one white,
approximately ten dark brown,
three white,
four dark brown and
two white segments at apex."

I think I can convince myself that the bold part of the montisella antenna description above matches fairly well. The brown-white-brown-etc. sequence and proportions look good if I assume the antenna segments are of similar lengths, since I can't make them out individually. I can't make out the details of the basal part of the antennae to say they match or not. I noticed that the illustrated antennae (Fig. 74) don't seem to match the text description well (it's hard to tell which parts should be white, especially in the basal quarter, from the illustration).

… Timothy Reichard, 3 January, 2016 - 10:43pm

I keep coming back to montisella

But the antennae aren't right! This one's tricky.

… Kyhl Austin, 3 January, 2016 - 7:45pm

I don't think this is montisella

The anntennae banding is not right.

… Kyhl Austin, 23 December, 2015 - 4:47pm

Good source

Yes, Koster (2010) is the definitive reference for Cosmopterix (follow that link and scroll down for a link to download the PDF).

… Charley Eiseman, 23 December, 2015 - 10:45am

Worth a mention on the genus Info page?

I had no idea this genus was mostly identifiable to species in N. Am., and that article shows well why that is. I need something like that for Coleophora....

… Timothy Reichard, 3 January, 2016 - 6:53pm

Done

It was already mentioned on the family page, but you're right that it belongs on the genus page too.
For Coleophora, you'll have to wait a bit for J-F Landry to finish his revision--there are three or four times as many undescribed species as described ones in North America (totaling 400 to 500, I think).

… Charley Eiseman, 3 January, 2016 - 7:04pm

Moved

Moved from Moths.

… Charley Eiseman, 1 November, 2015 - 6:43pm

Yes

Not sure if species can be determined here...

… Aaron Hunt, 16 September, 2015 - 11:18am

Most Cosmopterix can be told apart, but they can be tricky. I'll take a look at the .pdf I have tomorrow. Bed time for me now!

… Kyhl Austin, 16 September, 2015 - 11:04pm