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National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

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Species Yponomeuta multipunctella - American Ermine Moth - Hodges#2420

Representative Images

American Ermine Moth - Yponomeuta multipunctella American Ermine Moth - Hodges#2420 - Yponomeuta multipunctella caterpillar - Yponomeuta multipunctella Yponomeuta multipunctella - American Ermine Moth - Yponomeuta multipunctella Moth to porch light - Yponomeuta multipunctella American ermine moth - Yponomeuta multipunctella Yponomeuta multipunctella Yponomeuta multipunctella
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 Yponomeutoidea (Ermine Moths and kin)
Family Yponomeutidae (Ermine Moths)
Subfamily Yponomeutinae
Genus Yponomeuta
Species multipunctella (American Ermine Moth - Hodges#2420)

Hodges Number

2420

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Yponomeuta multipunctella (Clemens, 1860)
Hyponomeuta multipunctella Clemens, 1860
Hyponomeuta euonymella Chambers, 1872
Hyponomeuta leucothorax Meyrick, 1913
Hyponomeuta orbimaculella Chambers, 1873
Hyponomeuta ordinatella Walker, 1863
Hyponomeuta semialba Meyrick, 1913

Size

wingspan 20-25 mm

Identification

Adult: forewing white with three or four longitudinal rows of round black spots (usually more than 40 spots on each wing); hindwing mostly white; legs completely white

Range

southeastern Canada and eastern half of United States

Habitat

woodlots, parks, gardens, suburban yards

Season

Univoltine on Block Island, RI, with adult records from early July through mid-August.(1)

Food

larvae feed on Euonymus spp.

Life Cycle

larvae construct communal webs among the foliage of Nannyberry and Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum spp.) and Euonymus plants
Images at forestry images

Remarks

Adults of this species are abundant from late-June to mid-July in southern Ontario, where the larval host plant is presumably Running Strawberry-bush (Euonymus obovata), a low trailing shrub that forms much of the ground cover in woodlots throughout the region.

See Also

Streaked Ethmia (Ethmia longimaculella) forewing has elongated black streaks, not round black spots, and its legs are banded black-and-white, not completely white; the Streaked Ethmia also has a chunkier body and appears two or three weeks earlier in the season than the American Ermine
Orchard Ermine Moth (Y. padella) has less than 30 spots on forewing

Print References

Clemens, 1860: 8. (2)
Meyrick, E., 1913. Exotic Microlepidoptera, 1: 139. (Y. semialba description)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group - photos of live and pinned adults.
BOLD - species account with photos of pinned adults and DNA sequence
live adult images (Dean Edwards, Tennessee)
adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)

Works Cited

1.Block Island Moths
2.Contributions to American lepidopterology
Clemens, B. 1860. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 12: 4–15, 156–174, 203–221, 345–362, 522–547.
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 7 July, 2005 - 9:33pm
Additional contributions by john and jane balaban, Steve Nanz, Tony-2, anitagould, Maury Heiman, Blocky
Last updated 17 June, 2022 - 7:39pm

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