Species Aglossa caprealis - Stored Grain Moth - Hodges#5517

5517

Murky Meal Moth

Small Tabby

Fungus Moth

wingspan 23-27 mm

Adult: top of head and neck dark; forewing shiny, brownish-gray with pale yellowish patches and lines; reniform spot dark, circular, surrounding by pale ring; AM line thick, sharp-angled but shallow zigzag; ST line thick and straight at costa and inner margin, middle portion U-shaped, thin, jagged

Larva: black with small whitish spots and sparse hairs

most of North America plus Eurasia, Australia & New Zealand, and probably other places throughout the world

around or in human habitations and buildings: homes, outhouses, barns, stables

adults fly from June to September in the northern hemisphere, but may be found in any month indoors

larvae feed on stored foods, vegetable debris, grain chaff, fungi, and dead animals

Probably introduced from western Eurasia, like other Aglossa

Grease Moth (A. cuprina) is similar but top of head and neck is pale yellowish, and the AM line has a single large V-shaped "tooth" extending into the medial area (see comparison images in Moth Photographers Group link below)

Large Tabby (A. pinguinalis) is larger, and forewing is more uniformly mottled (not as patchy)

live and pinned adult images by various photographers, and common name reference [Stored Grain Moth] (Moth Photographers Group)

adult image (Larry Line, Maryland)

description plus habitat, food plants, and flight season (The Larger Moths of Suffolk, UK)

larva and pupa images (Agricultural Research Service, USDA)

presence in Florida; list (Michael Thomas, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)

species search results, California Moth Specimens Database (U. of California at Berkeley)

presence in Ontario; list (NHIC; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)

Wikipedia