Moved from Batrachedridae.

Moved from Concealer Moths.

Moved from Moths.

See comments by Terry Harrison at his Microleps.Org website. I sent the photo to Terry who responded:

"Needham published a paper on rearing S. elyella in Florida, with detailed notes on the biology. Citation:

"Needham, J. G. 1947. A moth that lives on fern spores (Lepidoptera: Heliodinidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 49: 165-166.

"In point of fact, I have always had some questions as to whether or not the Florida moth really is the same species as our northern S. elyella (which was decribed from CT, and since has been collected in IL, those being the only two northern-USA localities of which I am aware). For example, Needham's rearing was from a fern that occurs only along the seacoast of the far-southeastern USA, which automatically means that the host plant of our northern populations must be a different fern (none of the northern S. elyella have been reared).

"At our present state of knowledge, then, the FL moth (as seen in the BG photos) would have to be called S. elyella."

Terry also points out that Strathmopoda and Idioglossa (Hodges 1070-1072) have been moved from Oecophoridae (Depressariinae) of the Hodges list to Batrachedridae within Coleophoridae.

Heppner credits the species only to his zones 1 and 2 of northern Florida (south to about Gainesville). He may have been unaware of the 1947 rearing paper because he states the host plant is unknown.

It is possible that your moth might prove to be an undescribed species. Specimens should be collected for DNA analysis at BOLD and for genitalic analysis by Heppner at Gainesville.