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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Twirler Moths and kin (Gelechioidea) » Depressariidae » Ethmiinae » Pyramidobela » Buddleia Budworm - Hodges#0961.1 (Pyramidobela angelarum)
Photo#333877
Larva in captivity: seasonality - Pyramidobela angelarum
Copyright © 2009 R. Berg

Larva in captivity: seasonality - Pyramidobela angelarum
Alameda County, California, USA
September 13, 2009
This photo supplements .

The buddleia cuttings in the enclosure where moths eclosed from September 2 through September 7 or 8, and not since, contain more larvae, including the one shown. It looks as if it molted recently (much slack in exoskeleton), meaning that it is some way from adulthood. Younger larvae are also abundant in terminal leaves of buddleias outside the enclosure: . Evidently this population has multiple generations in a year or a long breeding season.
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Contributed by R. Berg on 16 September, 2009 - 11:44pm
Last updated 18 January, 2010 - 1:00pm

Moved
Moved from Moths.
… Charley Eiseman, 18 January, 2010 - 1:00pm login or register to post comments

It's been said before, but...
Powell and Opler's Moths of Western North America list one single species as a feeder of Buddleia, and that is Pyramidobela angelarum, as was previously suggested in this previous submission. To quote Powell and Opler, "P. angelarum was discovered in Los Angeles in 1934 feeding on ornamental butterfly bush, Buddleia.... Later, P. angelarum spread to the San Francisco Bay area... as a specific feeder on Buddleia, and is moltivoltine." This information provides a fairly good match to the host, the range, and the moltivoltine nature you provided. There is a single image of this moth in the book, although it is small and I often have trouble comparing pinned images of micromoths to live specimens.

I'm not an expert, just trying to do some detective work in figuring this one out. If only there were images on the internet to compare it to.
… Chris Mallory, 17 September, 2009 - 12:13am login or register to post comments

 
Puzzling
The HOSTS database lists P. angelarum and a checkerspot as larval feeders on buddleia. Obviously this isn't the checkerspot. P. angelarum is recorded in this county. But the only two mentions of P. angelarum larvae that I find through Google both say the larva is green or yellow to green. All my larvae have been white with black heads, and they cover a range of sizes.

butterfliesandmoths.org has a photo of an adult P. angelarum, but it's a small photo, and the specimen is pinned with its wings spread out, making comparison difficult. In that photo, I can't see the tufts on the moth's back that are so prominent on the moths in question.
… R. Berg, 17 September, 2009 - 12:33am login or register to post comments

 
A differing specimen
Today I found a larva that did look somewhat yellow-green: . This strengthens the case for P. angelarum, although the question of why all other larvae are white remains.
… R. Berg, 18 September, 2009 - 12:37am login or register to post comments

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