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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Pyralid Moths (Pyralidae) » Epipaschiinae » Pococera » Maple Webworm Moth - Hodges#5606 (Pococera asperatella)

Species Pococera asperatella - Maple Webworm Moth - Hodges#5606

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 Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)

Family Pyralidae (Pyralid Moths)

Subfamily Epipaschiinae

Genus Pococera

Species asperatella (Maple Webworm Moth - Hodges#5606)

Hodges Number

5606

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Pococera asperatella (Clemens, 1860)

Lanthaphe asperatella Clemens, 1860

Phylogenetic sequence # 166575

Numbers

There are twenty-six named species of Pococera in America north of Mexico.

Identification

Specimen identified by DNA analysis (caution, see Remarks below):

Range

Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Season

Most records are from March through October. MPG

Food

Known larval hosts include various maples and oaks, quaking aspen and American beech. (1) There is also a BugGuide record on American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). (2) (This may be a misidentified P. melanogrammos which apparently feeds on sweetgum.)

Life Cycle

When the larvae become full grown they leave the nest and drop to the ground on strands of silk. The winter is spent as a prepupa in a cocoon spun in the duff on the ground.(3)

One generation per year.(3)

Remarks

Identifications of Pococera based on DNA should be considered tentative pending further investigations and possibly revision of this genus. There are at least 8 Barcode Index Number (BIN) groups with specimens identified as Pococera asperatella. DNA barcode evidence seems to suggest that P. asperatella may be a complex containing undescribed species. Some BINs refer to other species with specimens misidentified as asperatella. Below is a list of these BINs as of 5/15/2019:

BOLD:AAA8498: 25 asperatella, 3 melanogrammos, 1 sp.

BOLD:ACE4466: 19 asperatella, 39 expandens, 3 maritimalis, 1 subcanalis, 23 sp.

BOLD:ABY6852: 10 asperatella, 19 expandens, 4 spaldingella, 8 sp.

BOLD:AAA3814: 25 asperatella, 25 asperatella, 25 asperatella, 25 asperatella

BOLD:ACF4182: 2 asperatella, 3 sp.

BOLD:ACE3864: 2 asperatella, 24 expandens, 5 sp.

BOLD:AAI2791: 1 asperatella, 1 griseella

BOLD:AAB7370: 1 asperatella, 27 maritimalis, 2 melanogrammos, 1 subcanalis, 1 aplastella

Print References

Clemens, B. 1860 Contributions to American Lepidopterology. No. 5. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 12: 207

Forbes, 1923: 607. (4)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

Works Cited

1.	HOSTS - The Hostplants and Caterpillars Database

2.	Pococera asperatella

3.	Eastern Forest Insects Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.

4.	The Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States William T.M. Forbes. 1923. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Memoir 68.

Contributed by Lynette Elliott on 23 July, 2005 - 1:53pm
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, Maury Heiman, Randy Hardy, Marci Hess, Robert H. Biagi
Last updated 26 August, 2023 - 1:38pm

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