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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Crambid Snout Moths (Crambidae) » Pyraustinae » Pyraustini » Helvibotys » Helvibotys helvialis - Hodges#4980 (Helvibotys helvialis)

Species Helvibotys helvialis - Hodges#4980

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Moth ID Request - Helvibotys helvialis Unknown Moth 11 - Helvibotys helvialis Yellow moth - Helvibotys helvialis Neohelvibotys neohelvialis - Helvibotys helvialis Helvibotys helvialis Maybe Helvibotys? - Helvibotys helvialis Helvibotys helvialis ? - Helvibotys helvialis Hodges#4980 - Helvibotys helvialis - female
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
Subfamily Pyraustinae
Tribe Pyraustini
Genus Helvibotys
Species helvialis (Helvibotys helvialis - Hodges#4980)
Hodges Number
4980
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Helvibotys helvialis (Walker, 1859)
Spilodes helvialis Walker, 1859
Synonyms
Botys thycesalis Walker, 1859
Botys apertalis Walker, [1866]
Botys citrina Grote & Robinson, 1867
Loxostege helvialis Fernald, 1903
Numbers
Five Helvibotys species occur in America north of Mexico.
Size
wingspan about 17-20 mm, based on two Internet photos
Identification
Adult: forewing variably yellowish, orangish, or tan with brown AM and PM lines; AM line a smooth shallow arc, almost straight; PM line a smooth shallow S-shaped curve; two discal spots in median area near costa are same color as AM and PM lines; hindwing similar color as forewing but AM line absent and PM line reduced to short straight portion near middle of wing.
Genitalia:
Range
Massachusetts to Ontario, south to Florida in the east and Brownsville, TX to the west (1)
Season
The main flight period appears to be adults fly from April to September; longer period in California.
Food
The larvae feed on pigweed (Amaranthus spp.) and Common Beet (Beta vulgaris)
See Also
Munroe in 1976 (and Brian Scholtens in a recent email message via Bob Patterson) said that species of Neohelvibotys cannot be reliably distinguished from Helvibotys except by examination of genitalia.
Other Helvibotys species are restricted to the southern states.
Print References
Munroe, E., 1976. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 13.2a. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. p. 50; pl. 3, figs. 57-58. (1)
Walker, F. 1859. List of the Lepidopterous Insects in the British Museum of Natural History. London. 18, p. 772.
Capps, H W. 1967. Review of some species of Loxostege (Hübner) and descriptions of new species (Lepidoptera, Pyraustidae: Pyrausinae). Proceedings of the United States National Museum 120(3361): 3 (2)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (3)
pinned adult image plus date and larval foodplants (Larry Line, Maryland)
pinned adult image (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (4)
presence in Iowa; list of 2 specimen records with dates and locations (James Durbin, Iowa)
presence in South Carolina; list (Richard Vogt, U. of South Carolina)
US distribution; list of boundary states (Dalton State College, Georgia)
pinned adult image of specimen collected in New Jersey in 1881 (Titian Peale Collection, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia)
Works Cited
1.The Moths of America North of Mexico - Fascicle 13.2a - Pyralidae: Pyraustinae
Eugene Munroe. 1976. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.
2.Review of some species of Loxostege (Hübner) and descriptions of new species (Lepidoptera, Pyraustidae, Pyrausinae)
Hahn W. Capps. 1967. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 120(3361): 1-75.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 24 June, 2008 - 9:42pm
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Maury Heiman, Robert H. Biagi, Steve Morris
Last updated 12 September, 2023 - 11:23pm

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