This may be the first living moth photo on the Internet for this species. I was able to photograph a nice specimen last summer at Mississippi Entomological Museum. It is known from coastal SC to FL and west to TX. This view is the better one because it shows the complete forewing markings. With small moths it is often impossible to know which is the "better side" until you see a photo in the camera or on the computer, so I try to turn the moth and get shots from both sides. You can be pretty sure that we won't see many photos of this species even though it can run to about 20mm in wingspan and is not among the smallest of the moths.

Small moths with "horns" curved backward like this (they are the palps) are almost always pre-tortricid micros, and most often in the superfamily Gelechioidea (Hodges 855-2311). There are of course many exceptions to this general idea.


Bob Patterson at Miss. Ent. Mus.