Species Carmenta mimuli - Coronopus Borer Moth - Hodges#2602

2602

Carmenta mimuli (Hy. Edwards, 1881)

Aegeria mimuli Hy. Edwards, 1881

Sesia mimuli

Carmenta torrancia Engelhardt, 1946 (1)

* phylogenetic sequence #081300

Mimuli presumably from Greek mim, meaning "mimic." Like most Sesiidae this species closely resembles a wasp.

Common name Coronopus Borer Moth from suspected host plant (Chamaesaracha coronopus).

Forewing length 8-11 mm. (2)

Adult - forewings largely transparent with wide, black distal margin powdered in orange. Has orange discal spot. Females with yellow-orange labial palpi and generally more orange on the forewings. (2)

North Dakota and Montana south through the Rockies and on to southern Mexico. (2)

Adults observed in association with greenleaf five eyes (Chamaesaracha coronopus, Solanaceae) but this has not been confirmed as the larval host. (2)

The dark form is the typical form of Carmenta mimuli found in Arizona. This species flies from late April to November in southeastern Arizona. The whitish form is non-typical. The larvae feed on perennial solanaceous plants found within the southwest United States from Kansas to Arizona. They were uncommon to rare in museum collections until the clearwing moth pheromones became commercially available (William H. Taft, 11 January, 2009).

Adults often collected using Z,Z-ODDA pheromone baits (Meyer & Cranshaw, 1994). (2)

Beuttenmüller, W. 1901. Monograph of the Sesiidae of America, north of Mexico. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History 1(6): 281 (3)

Edwards, Hy. 1881. New Genera and new species of the family Aegeridae. Papilio 1(10): 200-201

Meyer, W.L. & W.S Cranshaw 1994. Capture of Clearwing Borers (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) with three synthetic attractants in Colorado. Southwestern Entomologist 19(1): 71-76 (PDF)

Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl.14.13m, p.125 (2)