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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Crambid Snout Moths (Crambidae) » Crambine Snout Moths (Crambinae) » Grass-Veneers (Crambini) » Thaumatopsis » Woolly Grass-veneer Moth  - Hodges#5439 (Thaumatopsis pexellus)

Species Thaumatopsis pexellus - Woolly Grass-veneer Moth - Hodges#5439

Representative Images

Woolly Grass-veneer Moth - Thaumatopsis pexellus - male Crambidae: Thaumatopsis pexellus - Thaumatopsis pexellus Crambidae: Thaumatopsis pexellus - Thaumatopsis pexellus - male Crambidae: Thaumatopsis pexellus - Thaumatopsis pexellus ID Request - Thaumatopsis pexellus - male Crambidae: Thaumatopsis pexellus - Thaumatopsis pexellus - male Thaumatopsis pexellus - male Moth ID? - Thaumatopsis pexellus - male
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
Subfamily Crambinae (Crambine Snout Moths)
Tribe Crambini (Grass-Veneers)
Genus Thaumatopsis
Species pexellus (Woolly Grass-veneer Moth - Hodges#5439)

Hodges Number

5439

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Thaumatopsis pexellus (Zeller, 1863) (1)
Crambus pexellus Zeller, 1863
Crambus macropterellus Zeller, 1863
Thaumatopsis longipalpas (Morrison, 1874)

Numbers

Thaumatopsis has more than 14 species in America north of Mexico. (2)

Size

Wingspan: 21-32 mm. (1)

Identification

Yellowish gray forewing with a narrow whitish line from wing base to just beyond the reniform. The white line is bordered by a thicker dark brown line. Brown oblique line to near apex. Terminal line is 3-5 dark dots. Male antennae are bipectinate. (1)

Range

Widespread in North America. (2), (3), (4)
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Habitat

Grasslands.

Season

Adults fly July to early September and later in the South. (2)

Food

Grass species.

See Also

Thaumatopsis fernaldella, adults fly earlier in the year and do not have the brown oblique line running to apex on forewing. Males do not have bipectinate antennae.
Compare on the pinned plates of Moth Photographers Group.

Print References

Fernald, C.H. 1896. The Crambidae of North America. p. 66. (1)
McDaniel, Fauske & Gustin 1984. Sod Webworm Moths (Pyralidae: Crambinae) in South Dakota, Journal of The Lepidopterists' Society, 38(3): p. 156, figs 3, 6. (3)
Morrison, 1874. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 17: 165.
Zeller, 1863. Chi. et. Cram. p. 48.

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group
E. H. Strickland Entomological Museum
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

Works Cited

1.The Crambidae of North America
Charles Henry Fernald. 1896. Massachusetts Agricultural College.
2.North American Moth Photographers Group
3.Sod webworm moths (Pyralidae: Crambidae) in South Dakota
B. McDaniel, G. Fauske, R. D. Gustin. 1984. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 38(3): 149-164.
4.Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America
David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie. 2012. Houghton Mifflin.
Contributed by Maury J. Heiman on 6 October, 2009 - 11:15pm
Last updated 24 October, 2013 - 8:27pm

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