Species Adela septentrionella - Hodges#0221

0221

Adela septentrionella Walsingham, 1880 (1)

Phylogenetic sequence #210111

Specific epithet from Latin septentrio meaning "northern" or "Ursa Major" (Wiktionary).

Forewing length 4.5 - 5.7 mm (2)

Wingspan 11 mm. (1)

Adult: Forewing black (with purplish-brown iridescence) having two (sometimes incomplete) thin white bands about one-third and two-thirds distance from base; may also have white spots at apex...but white bands and spots may be reduced or absent in coastal populations. Head black in males, with bushy tuft of erect black scales; females have orange head scaling. Eyes of intermediate size for the genus: in males eye diameter about 1.25 X distance between eyes(3). Antennae are longer than in some large-eyed species (2.5–3+ X forewing length in males; about 2 X in females)(2). Hindwing uniformly dark with wide fringe.

Southern British Columbia to central California north of the Transverse Ranges (2)

Type locality: Mendocino, California. Southern Oregon.

From the coast to boreal forests, from 6000 - 8000' in the Sierra Nevadas (2)

Adults fly in May to June and into July at higher elevations (2)

Adult females oviposit on buds of Ocean Spray Holodiscus discolor (3)

Mature or nearly mature larvae overwinter in cases on the ground and pupate in late March or April (2)

Walsingham, T. de Grey. 1880. On some new and little known species of Tineidae. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1880: 79, Pl.9, f.1 (1)

Moth Photographers Group – species page (4)

BOLD Systems - images of DNA supported specimens (5)

Wikipedia - brief description (6)

Adela septentrionella Plates from "Moths of Western North America" by Powell & Opler(2)

California Moth Specimens Database

Live adult images (Adam Winer, California)

Live adult image and other info (Jeremy Tatum, Butterflies and Moths of Southern Vancouver Island)