Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Adaina montanus (Walsingham, 1880)
Aciptilus montanus Walsingham, 1880
Pterophorus declivis Meyrick, 1913
Adaina declivis (Meyrick, 1913)
* specific epithet also spelled "montana"
Size
Forewing length 7.5-8.5 mm (Powell & Opler, 2009).
(1)
Larvae mature to 12 mm (Comstock & Dammers, 1935).
Pupa 6 mm (Comstock & Dammers, 1935).
Identification
Wings: White, deeply cleft with some speckled brown scales. Heavy brown scales at wing tips. A wide, broken, dark brown-speckled streak diagonal across mid-wing touching the base of the lobe division. The second lobe has a brown streak on inner edge tip. Fringe white, except tips at inner margin on both lobes dark
Larva - variable, from pale green, pale gray or even pale chocolate with fans and tufts of white hairs (Comstock & Dammers, 1935). Last 2 or 3 segments yellow. Three white stripes on top (dorsal); white hairs are bent at tips. Row of black dots along each side, with hair tufts. Head pale green, hidden by long white hairs.
Range
Powell & Opler state that the range is poorly known. Originally described from California with records from Ontario, New York and Colorado.
(1)Food
Larvae feed on
Canada cocklebur (
Xanthium strumarium canadense) (Comstock & Dammers, 1935). Powell & Opler add the hosts
aster and
goldenrod (
Solidago).
(1)Life Cycle
Females lay eggs on underside of leaves. Larva feed on underside of leaf, later moving to top side. Pupates on silk pad on underside of leaf. Pupa 6 mm long; light green to reddish to brown; sometimes with a reddish stripe. Overwinters in egg stage.
See Comstock & Dammers. Pupation occurs on the plant.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Aciptilus montanus by Walsingham. Type Locality: California. In the American Museum of Natural History, New York, N. Y.
Holotype as Pterophorus declivis male by Meyrick, 1913. Type Locality: Ontario. In the British Museum of Natural History, London, England.
Print References
Comstock, J. A. & C. A. Dammers 1935. Notes on the early stages of two butterflies and one moth. Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci. 34(1):
85
Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. pl.12.30m, p.120
Walsingham, T. 1880. Pterophoridae of California and Oregon.
p.60
The Canadian Entomologist, 1880, Vol. 12 by Kellicott, pp. 106 to 107.
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 1881-83, Vol. 4 by Kellicott, pp. 51 to 52.
Special Bulletin, Hatch Experiment Station of the Massachusetts Agricultural College 1898: The Pterophoridae of North America by Fernald, pp. 37 to 38.
Exotic Microlepidoptera, 1912-16, Vol. 1 by Meyrick, pg. 112.
Contributions to the Natural History of the Lepidoptera of North America, 1917, Vol. 4 by Barnes and McDunnough, pp. 366 to 369.
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1923, Memoir #68 by Forbes, pg. 651.
Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 1935, Vol. 34 by Comstock and Dammers, pp. 85 to 87.
