Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Mompha

small moth - Mompha stellella Mompha  sp.? - Mompha circumscriptella Empty Mompha mines on Cephalanthus midrib - Mompha Momphidae: Mompha unifasciella? - Mompha Pond Drive leaf miner on Cephalanthus occidentalis D2706 2020 1.1 - Mompha solomoni Pond Drive leaf miner on Cephalanthus occidentalis D2706 2020 3.1 - Mompha solomoni Mompha rufocristatella Mompha eloisella? - Mompha eloisella
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 Gelechioidea (Twirler Moths and kin)
Family Momphidae (Momphid Moths)
Subfamily Momphinae
Genus Mompha
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
placed in a separate family (Momphidae) by Nye and Fletcher, 1991
placed in family Coleophoridae, subfamily Momphinae by Hodges in Kristensen, 1999; this is the classification followed by All-Leps and BugGuide
Explanation of Names
Mompha Hübner, 1825
Numbers
45 species in North America listed at All-Leps
Identification
Adults - tiny, stout moths with thick, diverging, upward turned palpi, and unusually upraised scale rows on the forewing (1)
Larvae - stout, grublike, with fully functional thoratic legs (1)
Range
N. Amer., / Europe - Map (2)
Food
specialize on Onagraceae, the only Lepidopteran group to do so (1) It also feeds on members of a few other families, like Fabaceae, Melastomataceae, Rhamnaceae, etc. (Hosts)
Internet References
Illustrated Guide to Microlepidoptera - detailed descriptions with images of pinned adults and life cycles
classification history showing placement in family Momphidae by Nye and Fletcher, 1991, and placement in subfamily of Coleophoridae by Hodges in Kristensen, 1999 (Butterflies and Moths of the World)