Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Polix coloradella (Walsingham, 1888)
Oecophora coloradella Walsingham, 1888
(1)
Schiffermuelleria rostrigera Meyrick, 1919 (
237)
Borkhausenia coloradella
Schiffermuelleria coloradella
Phylogenetic sequence #420054
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet for the type location Colorado.
(1)Numbers
The only species in this genus in North America.
Size
9 to 12 mm long. Forewing length 7.5-9.3 mm, rarely 6.7mm.
(2)
forewing length = 5.5-9.5 mm
(3)Identification
Adult - forewing black with white strip beginning on top of head and continuing along inner margin, bending 45 degrees near anal angle and extending almost half-way to apex.
Head: Pale yellow to yellowish-white.
Antenna: Grayish-brown, with faint paler rings.
Thorax: Gray-brown, outlined in pale yellow to yellowish-white.
Wings: Forewings long, wide at tips. Grayish-brown, slightly speckled with creamy-white. Inner margin has yellow stripe. With wings closed, stripe continues from yellow thorax edge to anal angle where it forms a crescent shape on each wing. Fringe same as wing color. Hindwings and fringe paler than forewings.
Note: In Colorado and California, the stripe down the center is faint to absent.
Legs: Dark grayish-brown.
Abdomen: Dark grayish-brown.
Range
Scattered records from coast to coast in the US and Canada.
(4)Season
Adults fly in June and July, and may be attracted to light.
Food
Larvae feed on fungus in rotting wood,
(2), particularly Bull’s Eye Rot
Neofabraea perennans - a canker on Apples
Malus, Pear
Pyrus and Serviceberry
Amelanchier.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Oecophora coloradella male by Walsingham, 1888. Locality: Colorado, a single specimen collected by Mons. Ragonot. In the British National Museum of Natural History, London, England.
Holotype as Schiffermuelleria rostrigera female by Meyrick, 1916. Locality: Muskoka Lake, Ontario collected by Parish in July. Museum unknown.
Print References
Hodges, R.W. 1974. Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 6.2, p.121; pl.6.19-21
(3)
Walsingham, Lord 1888. Steps toward a revision of Chambers' index, with notes and descriptions of new species.
Insect Life 1(5):
148.
(1)Internet References
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 1901-03, Vol. 5: Notes on Brackenridge Clemens’ Types of Tineina by August Busck, pg. 218.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1904, Vol. 27, pg. 776: Tineid Moths from British Columbia by Busck.
Exotic Microlepidoptera, 1916, Vol. 11 by Meyrick, pg. 237.
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1923, Memoir #68 by Forbes pg. 248.
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 1931, Vol. 33, pg. 66 by E. Newcomer.
Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1942, Vol. 90: Revision of the Oecophoridae by Clarke, pp. 246 to 247.
