Species Machimia tentoriferella - Gold-striped Leaftier - Hodges#0951

0951

Machimia tentoriferella Clemens, 1860

* placed in family Oecophoridae by Nye and Fletcher (1991).

* placed in family Amphisbatidae by Hodges in Kristensen (1999).

TENTORIFERELLA: from the Latin "tentorium" (a tent); probably a reference to the rolled or tied leaf enclosure made by the larva.

Wingspan 20-26 mm. (1)

Adult - forewing yellowish-gray to grayish-brown; two sharp blackish dots in AM line and reniform spot positions that form a triangle with more diffuse spot on inner margin; diffuse PM line usually present; hindwing pale grayish-brown. (1) Labial palps upturned and may extend partly over head.

Nova Scotia to North Carolina/Tennessee, west to Mississippi and Iowa, north to Ontario. (1)

Larvae roll or tie leaves of foodplant together in woodlands, wood edges, suburban yards; adults are nocturnal and come to light.

Two flight seasons (June & July and September & October). Most reports of adults are from late August to October; peak numbers in September. (1)

Larvae feed on leaves of a variety of shrubs and trees: apple, ash, balsam poplar, basswood, beech, birch, butternut, cherry, chestnut, dogwood, elm, hazel, hickory, lilac, maple, mountain-ash, oak, Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). (2), (1), and Charley Eiseman

The larvae lives and feeds inside a folded leaf.(3)

Life Cycle Images:

larval leaf shelter; inside leaf shelter; larva; larva; cocoon; adult

Life Cycle by Charley Eiseman

Clemens, B., 1860. Contributions to American lepidopterology - no.4. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1860: 212

Hodges, R.W., 1974. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 6.2. E. W. Classey Ltd. and RBD Publications Inc. p. 86; pl. 5, figs. 26-28. (4)

Moth Photographers Group (5)

adult images and foodplants (Larry Line, Maryland)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (6)