07/06/17 Collected folded / skeletonized leaves of white snakeroot, Ageratina altissima, with lep larvae inside...but didn't take pictures of the leaves at the time (*facepalm*)

Batch rearing

07/23/17 Adult


08/04/17 Returned to the area to get photos of this moth's feeding sign (shown in this series)

I should add that the feeding sign of Leucospilapteryx venustella



on white snakeroot in my area appears very similar, at least superficially. Both species create what I would call a leaf-buckle. However, because L. venustella mines the leaf, my impression is that its leaf-buckle results from layers of leaf tissue separating from one another, whereas the leaf-buckle of D. leopardana happens when the larva folds part of the leaf into a shelter and fastens it with silk. So determining whether the leaf-buckle is a mine or a fold should clinch the ID. The phenology of these two species may also be different in a diagnostic way, though I don't have enough experience with either of them to speak to that.