There has been a lot of confusion between Acrolophus popeanella and A. arcanella through the years but thanks to help from Peter Jump, some of that confusion can be cleared up. The palps of male A. popeanella will reach back to or near to the abdomen. The palps of male A. arcanella are much shorter and will generally point straight up. The scales on the thorax of A. arcanella are much longer, giving it a very furry appearance. A. arcanella is also a stockier looking moth and when fresh, the forewings will have scattered large white scales. This is something you will never see on A. popeanella.
A. popeanella ♂ A. arcanella ♂
Genitalia:
A pretty variable species, easily recognized in its yellow-striped form:
That becomes a bit less distinctive in forms where the stripe is darkened:
And sometimes loses the yellow altogether, but the placement of the rest of the patches on the wings remains the same:
In these plain forms, this species can sometimes be very difficult to distinguish from dark specimens of propinqua, which has similarly-structured palps.
Range
Eastern United States: New Jersey and Ohio south to Florida, west to Illinois, Nebraska, Texas.
Ontario
Habitat
Meadows, forest edges.
Season
adults fly from May to September; Mid-June to July in Ontario.
Food
Larvae feed on roots of Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). White clover roots also reported.
Life Cycle
Larvae tunnel into soil around clover roots. Tunnels are silk-lined. Over-winter as larvae and continue feeding the next spring. Pupate in tunnels in late spring.
Larvae about 17 mm long. Dark brownish-purple with raised spots. Head black, bordered with a brown line. Abdomen tip lighter colored. Legs brown-black, long.
Remarks
Peter Jump says that this species contains an undescribed cryptic species that is found along the eastern coast and can't be determine by the genitalia. Females of the cryptic species seem to be unknown.
Types:
Holotype and allotype as Anaphora popeanella male and female by Clemens, 1859. Type Locality: Texas. In the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Note: Both rubbed, one unspread and without abdomen. Clemens type #11.
Syntypes as Anaphora scardina males by Zeller, 1873. Type Locality: Carolina & Texas. In the British National Museum of Natural History, London, England.
Holotype as Anaphora agrotipennella female by Grote, 1872. Type Locality: Alabama. In the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Holotype as Anaphora morrisoni male by Walsingham, 1887. Type Locality: Florida. In the British National Museum of Natural History, London, England.
Holotype as Anaphora confusellus male by Dyar, 1900. Type Locality: Georgia. In the United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. Type #405 in Beutenmueller Collection. Genitalia slide by Busck 1933. Beutenmuller never published a description for Acrolophus confusellus.
Note: Listed at Smithsonian as Anaphora popeanella confusella. No photos.
See Also
Aged females are similar to Acrolophus propinqua females, but have only a few dark spiked hairs on thorax. A. propinqua has fairly thick reddish-brown spiked thorax.
