Species Cisthene unifascia - One-banded Lichen Moth - Hodges#8060

8060

"Banded Footman" (old literature)

Cisthene unifascia Grote & Robinson, 1868

syn. Illice ruptifascia Barnes & McDunnough, 1918

* phylogenetic sequence #930177

Adults can be recognized by the shape of the PM band which is in the form of two broad-based triangles which meet thinly--or not at all--in the middle; the forward margin of the PM band is thus deeply indented, irregular, and rather rectangular (compared to a more evenly concave margin in other species). When the two triangle don't touch, the upper spot (on inner FW margin) looks like an inverted shark fin, convex in front, straight or concave in rear. Color areas typically pale orange, but may be yellow or red-orange.(1) Males do not have the projecting lobe on the hind wing.(2)

Southern Great Plains from Texas to Oklahoma and Arkansas, with apparently isolated populations in Mississippi and Alabama (MPG, iNaturalist). (Many/most records further east--on Moth Photographer's Group and elsewhere--are based on misidentification of Thin-banded Lichen Moth or other species. Also, early literature used "Cisthene unifascia" for several species which were subsequently split off.(1)(2))

Eleven species have been documented in Texas per Knudson & Bordelon (2010) (3) and a twelfth may have been documented in West Texas. See ID article on iNaturalist.

Grote, A. B. & C. T. Robinson (1868) Descriptions of American Lepidoptera No. 4. Trans. American Ent. Soc. 2: 187

(Several other species such as Thin-banded Lichen Moth were not distinguished in the earliest literature on Cisthene and original descriptions were often very sparse.)

Sexton, C., and H. McGuinness. 2017. Identification of lichen moths in the genus Cisthene in the central and eastern U.S. Southern Lep. News (39(4):309-322.

Moth Photographers Group - species page

Key to Texas species of Cisthene