Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Petrophila confusalis (Walker, 1866)
Cataclysta confusalis Walker, 1866
(1)
Elophila truckeealis Dyar, 1917
Numbers
15 species in the genus for North America north of Mexico.
(2)Size
forewing length 5-11 mm.
Adults have considerable size variation.
(2)Identification
Very similar and closely related to Feather-edged Petrophila, but their ranges are widely disjunct.
(3) Confusing Petrophila differs in the following subtle ways
(3):
-- Center of the "discal bar" on the forewing (two short dark lines in the postmedian area) is white or pale buff instead of orange.
-- Thin black and white lines just in front of the orange tornal wedge are more prominent than on fulicalis.
-- More often than not, the thin dark capline of the hindwing marginal spots arches over the second spot high enough to touch or blend into the PM speckled area.
(3)Range
California to southern British Columbia and east to Nevada, Idaho, and Montana.
(4)
Previous descriptions of the range which included eastern North America are in error and are based on the name
confusalis being "applied vaguely to one or another of the eastern species".
(4) Powell and Opler's statement that the species was described from "eastern" North America seems to be in error.
(2) The type locality in Walker's description is just "North America".
(1)Food
Larvae feed on algae on rocks in fast moving streams. See "An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America" in internet references below)
Life Cycle
Adult females enter the water, up to 4 meters deep, to oviposit (200 - 300 eggs), carrying a plastronlike layer of air as a source of oxygen that sustains them from 4 to 12 hours. After ovipositing they die in the water. Some females only submerge partially, without fully breaking the water tension, and deposit eggs shallowly over several days.
(2)Print References
Dyar, H. G. 1917: Notes on North American Nymphulinae (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae). – Insecutor Inscitiae Menstruus, Washington 5 (4–6):
76.
Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler, Moths of Western North America, pl. 23.48m; p. 180.
(2)
Sexton, C. 2021. Identification and Distribution of the
Petrophila fulicalis species group (Crambidae): Taking Advantage of Citizen Science Data. J. Lep. Soc. 75(2):113-127.
(3)
Walker, F. 1865. List of specimens of Lepidopterous insects in the the collection of the British Museum. Part 34:1334
(1)Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - range map, photos of living and pinned adults.
Moth Photographers Group - photograph of pinned adult and related species for comparison.
