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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Pyralid Moths (Pyralidae) » Phycitinae » Phycitini » Cactus-Feeding Group » Laetilia » Scale-feeding Snout Moth - Hodges#5949 (Laetilia coccidivora)

Species Laetilia coccidivora - Scale-feeding Snout Moth - Hodges#5949

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Laetilia coccidivora - Laetilia coccidivora Scale-feeding Snout Moth - Laetilia coccidivora Hodges #5949 - Scale-feeding Snout Moth? - Laetilia coccidivora Moth - Laetilia coccidivora 20180728-SEP_7458 - Laetilia coccidivora Hodges #5949 - Scale-feeding Snout Moth - Laetilia coccidivora - Laetilia coccidivora Laetilia coccidivora Laetilia coccidivora
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 Pyralidae (Pyralid Moths)
Subfamily Phycitinae
Tribe Phycitini
No Taxon (Cactus-Feeding Group)
Genus Laetilia
Species coccidivora (Scale-feeding Snout Moth - Hodges#5949)
Hodges Number
5949
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Laetilia coccidivora (Comstock, 1879)
Original Combination:
Dakruma coccidivora Comstock, 1879; Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 1879: 241
Synonyms:
Dakruma pallida Comstock, 1879; Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture 1879: 243
Zophodia dilatifasciella Ragonot, 1887 (at one time synonymized with coccidivora and later re-elevated to species level)
Laetilia hulstii Cockerell, 1897; in Dyar (1904) Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 6 (4): 228
Atascosa quadricolorella Dyar, 1904; Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 6 (2): 116
Laetilia cardini Dyar, 1918; Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus 6 (7-9): 139
* phylogenetic sequence #177000
Size
wingspan 10-18mm (Comstock, 1879)
mature larvae to 12 mm (Comstock, 1879)
Food
larvae are predatory, feeding on the eggs and young of cochineal scale insects (Dactylopius), sometimes supplemented with cactus flowers (Mann, 1969).
Life Cycle
See Comstock, 1879: 241
Remarks
Uses carminic acid acquired from its food as a defense against predators (Eisner et. al., 1994)
See Also
Laetilia dilatifasciella - a closely related western species.
Amyelois transitella
Print References
Comstock, J.H. 1879. On a new predaceous lepidopterous insect. North American Entomologist. 1 (4): 26–28, pl. 4
Eisner, T., R. Ziegler, J. L. McCormick, M. Eisner, E. R. Hoebeke and J. Meinwald. 1994. Defensive use of an acquired substance (carminic acid) by predaceous insect larvae. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 50 (6): 610-615
Mann, John (1969) Cactus-Feeding Insects and Mites; USNM Bull. 256, p.30
Internet References
Florida Entomology. Picture of a caterpillar feeding on scale insects.
Moth Photographers Group - species page (1)
BOLD Systems - images of pinned DNA supported specimens (2)
Works Cited
1.North American Moth Photographers Group
2.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
Contributed by Natalie Hernandez on 20 January, 2010 - 6:38am
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Beatriz Moisset, Robert Lord Zimlich, Randy Hardy
Last updated 16 September, 2017 - 11:09am

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