Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Monopis crocicapitella (Clemens, 1859)
Blabophanes crocicapitella Zeller 1852
Tinea crocicapitella (Clemens 1859)
Many synonyms worldwide.
Size
Forewing length averages 4-6 mm, but can be up to 8 mm.
(1)Identification
Head: Yellow, long haired (scaled). Palpi long, folded, yellowish, dark on underside.
Antenna: Long; more than half as long as wings. Simple, dark.
Thorax: Thorax yellow; dark brown at side edges. Underside pale yellowish, speckled with dark.
Wings: Long, narrow, past abdomen tip. Brown, flecked with yellow and with an uneven but wide yellow border along lower or inner edge. Semi-hyaline discal spot mid wing. Fringe brown; longer fringe at wing tip half brown, half yellow. Hindwings brownish-gray.
Legs: Smooth, not scaled. Brown with yellow flecks and with yellow tips on all segments.
Abdomen: Pale yellowish, flecked with brown.
Range
Found throughout much of the northern hemisphere.
(1)
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.
Food
Debris, fungus, rotting vegetation, stored grain products.
Life Cycle
Associated with bird nests and bats in caves.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Tinea crocicapitella by Clemens, #3. Locality: Unknown. In Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Penn.
Holotype as Tinea amandatella male by Walker, 1863. Locality: Ceylon. In British Museum of Natural History, London, England.
See Also
Tinea mandarinella has a yellow spot on the inner margin near the anal angle. No semi-hyaline discal spot at mid-wing. Much smaller than
Monopis spp.
Print References
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009.
Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl. 2, fig. 28; p. 48.
(1)Internet References
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia, 1859, Vol. 11, pg. 257 by Clemens.
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 1863, Vol. 28, pg. 480 by Walker.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 1901-03, Vol. 5, pg. 181: Notes on Brackenridge Clemens’ Types of Tineina by August Busck.
Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 1905, Vol. 31, pg. 31 and 33.
The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine: Second Series, 1912, Vol. 48: Stray notes on Monopis crocicapitella and Monopis ferruginella, pp. 41-43 by Eustace R. Bankes.
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1923, Memoir #68: The Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States by William T. M. Forbes.
