Species Tortricidia flexuosa - Abbreviated Button Slug Moth - Hodges#4654

Classification · Hodges Number · Explanation of Names · Food · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

possibly genus Tortricidia family Limacodidae? - Tortricidia flexuosa

Abbreviated Button Slug - Tortricidia flexuosa

Abbreviated Button Slug, 4654 - Tortricidia flexuosa

Red-crossed button slug or Abbreviated button slug? - Tortricidia flexuosa

Pennsylvania Moth - Tortricidia flexuosa

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 Zygaenoidea (Flannel, Slug Caterpillar, Leaf Skeletonizer Moths and kin)

Family Limacodidae (Slug Caterpillar Moths)

Genus Tortricidia

Species flexuosa (Abbreviated Button Slug Moth - Hodges#4654)

Hodges Number

4654

Explanation of Names

Author: Grote, 1880

Food

According to the HOSTS database, caterpillars feed on maple (Acer), birch (Betula), cherry (Prunus), and oak (Quercus).

Dyar reports: "chestnut, oak, hickory, wild cherry" (1)

Remarks

Wagner (2) states that "there are no adult characters (including genitalia) that can be used to reliably separate the adults of the Red-crossed Button Slug from those of the Abbreviated Button Slug." He suggests that the two may in fact be the same species. Adults with more strongly patterned wings, and larvae with the lateral arms of the red dorsal mark extending only halfway down the sides of the body, are considered here to be the Abbreviated Button Slug.

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Barcode of Life (BOLD)

Works Cited

1.	The Life-Histories of the New York Slug Caterpillars Harrison G. Dyar. 1895. Journal of the New York Entomological Society.

2.	Caterpillars of Eastern North America David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.

Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 9 October, 2009 - 11:03am
Additional contributions by Maury Heiman, Blocky, PaleoJon, Steve Morris
Last updated 12 February, 2023 - 9:44pm

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