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Photo#361287
 Hodges#6186 - Hellinsia inquinatus

Hodges#6186 - Hellinsia inquinatus
Woodbury, Cannon County, Tennessee, USA
July 27, 2008
Size: small
I have looked at this photo many times and wondered what it was. Maybe someone will have an idea??

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Probably 6186 - Hellinsia inquinatus
I sent the photo to Debbie Matthews, Referee for Pterophoridae at MPG. Her response: "I'll need to get out some preserved material this weekend to be absolutely certain but I believe this is a pupa of Hellinsia inquinatus from ragweed, Ambrosia artemsiifolia or from another Ambrosia sp. The ragweed plume moth, Adaina ambrosiae also feeds on the same plant but the larvae and pupae are different."

 
Probably 6186
Mr. Patterson, Thank you for taking time to try to identify this for me. I really appreciate your going the extra mile. This is fascinating to me. I think this is the first time I have ever photographed something like this.

Do You Know the Host Plant Species?
Frequently a clue to larva species.

 
host plant
No, I am sorry. I cropped this photo but could post the whole photo and possibly someone would know.

 
Please do
We have a botanist (John Pearson) who does his best to ID host plant photos (and partial plant photos) submitted to BugGuide. I'm more of a botanist than an entomologist, so I may be able to help too.

 
Please do
I have posted the whole photo.

 
Plant...
...looks like Small Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) or a closely related genus such as Tanacetum (Tansy), all in the aster family (Asteraceae).

I think it's a plume moth pupa (Pterophoridae)
with the hairy shed skin of the caterpillar at the base.

Somewhat similar, but not the same species:

 
Plume moth pupa
Thank you so much for solving this mystery for me. Carol

 
And . . .
The small brown object on the fluffy white mass looks like part of the caterpillar's head capsule. Head capsules have a different, harder texture than the rest of the skin and aren't eaten by caterpillars after a molt.

 
good eye - it's got eyes :-)
That is indeed the head capsule - it's got a semicircle of six little bumps where the eyes were. (I zoomed in to check, but now that I know they're there, I can see them at this size.) This is a really cool image.

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