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Species Korscheltellus lupulina - Common Swift Moth - Hodges#0031.1

Common Swift Moth - Korscheltellus lupulina white-ribboned moth - top - Korscheltellus lupulina Korscheltellus lupulina Korscheltellus lupulina - female Korscheltellus lupulina - female moth - Korscheltellus lupulina Common Swift Moth - Korscheltellus lupulina Unknown moth - Korscheltellus lupulina
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 Hepialoidea (Ghost Moths)
Family Hepialidae (Ghost Moths)
Genus Korscheltellus
Species lupulina (Common Swift Moth - Hodges#0031.1)
Hodges Number
0031.1
Other Common Names
Garden Swift Moth
Lupulina Ghost Moth
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Korscheltellus lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Phalaena (Noctua) lupulina Linnaeus, 1758
* sometimes listed under Hepialus, and specific epithet sometimes spelled lupulinus
* in same genus as Hodges #31 Korscheltellus gracilis and therefore should follow it in the Check List. It was given the number 0036.99, which does not accurately reflect its true affinities. [TT]
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet lupulina is derived from the host plant species Humulus lupulus (Hops). (1)
Size
wingspan 25-35 mm
larvae 30-40 mm
Identification
Adult: antennae very short; body and wings of male yellowish-brown to orangish; wings elongate; forewing has row of whitish oblique spots arranged in shallow V or "dogleg" shape; hindwing with similar ground color but unmarked; female wing pattern similar to male but coloration more grayish, less orangish

Larva: head reddish-brown and pentagonal-shaped; body white, long and sinuous, bristling with long silken threads
Range
introduced to North America from Europe; apparently restricted to southern Ontario as of 2005 (see Remarks below)
Habitat
larvae live in soil around host plants in gardens and fields; adults are nocturnal and come to light
Season
adults fly in May and June
larvae present from June until frost
Food
larvae feed on strawberry, lettuce, chicory, lucerne, potato, maize, tobacco, and several herbaceous ornamentals
adults do not feed because they lack mouthparts
Life Cycle
one generation per year; overwinters as a larva in the soil; pupates in April/May; adults emerge in late spring and lay eggs at base of plants; eggs hatch within 9 days, and larvae grow and feed until spring of the following year
Remarks
The oldest North American records are from specimens collected in the 1950s from Lake Michigan sand dunes in Indiana, and deposited in the Canadian National Collection. The species has not been seen in the United States since then, but has been collected many times by multiple people in several locations in southern Ontario during the past 20 years (Don Lafontaine; pers comm).
See Also
K. gracilis male and female, the only other Korscheltellus species in North America, has larger, more extensive, and more irregular markings on the forewing, and the pale markings are gray, not whitish as in lupulina
Internet References
7 pinned adult images and collection site map (All-Leps)
live adult images from Italy and Denmark (Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa)
pinned adult images of male and female (FUNET)
pinned adult images of male and female (Swedish Museum of Natural History)
live adult image (Marc Carriere, France)
live larva image (National Agronomic Research Institute, France)
live pupa image (National Agronomic Research Institute, France)
Works Cited
1.An accentuated list of the British Lepidoptera, with hints on the derivation of the names.
Anonymous. 1858. The Entomological Societies of Oxford and Cambridge.