Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Author: Clemens, 1859
Tinea dorsistrigella, Tinea subjectella, Monopis subjectella
Size
5 to 6 mm long. Wingspan 12 to 14 mm.
Identification
Head: White to very pale yellow, long haired (scaled). Palpi yellowish, folded, underside dark brown. Brown around eyes.
Antenna: Brown, smooth, thick; 2/3 as long as wing.
Thorax: Sides (patagia) dark brown, center white to very pale yellow. Underside grayish-yellow.
Wings: Dark brown; somewhat tinged with red flecks; inner margin a broad white to very pale yellow band, widening at center and again near wing tip. Costa margin has large white to very pale yellow patch starting at center. White flecked patch at costal edge of wing tip. Fringe mixed whitish and brown, blending with wing colors. Hind wings light brownish-red. Fringe gray.
Legs: Whitish-gray ringed with brown.
Abdomen: Yellowish-white, segments ringed with brown.
Range
Eastern half of the U.S.; New Mexico and Nevada. Ontario and Quebec.
Habitat
Found on tree trunks. Common at lights.
Season
June to August; earlier in southern states.
Food
Debris, fungus, rotting vegetation.
Life Cycle
Has been bred from larvae found in bird's nest by Busck.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Tinea dorsistrigella by Clemens, 1859. #2. Locality: Unknown. In the United States National Museum, Smithsonian.
Holotype as Tinea subjunctella male by Walker, 1863. Locality: From Mr. Carter’s Collection (North America). In British Museum Natural History, London, England.
Holotype as Blabophanes dorsistrigella by Clemens. Locality: Unknown. In University of Massachusetts; Fernald’s collection.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - photos of living and pinned adults
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1859, Vol. 11, pg. 258 by Clemens.
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1860, Vol. 12, pg. 433 by Stainton, London.
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 1863, Vol. 28, pg. 471 by Walker.
Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 1882, Vol. 10, pg. 170 by Walsingham.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 1901-03, Vol. 5: Notes on Brackenridge Clemens’ Types of Tineina by August Busck.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1904, Vol. 27, pg. 775 by Busck.
Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 1905, Vol. 31: American Lepidoptera by William G. Dietz, pp. 31 & 33.
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1923, Memoir #68: The Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States by William T. M. Forbes.
