Species Dichomeris copa - Hodges#2291.2

2291.2

Dichomeris copa Hodges, 1986

* phylogenetic sequence #070500

Specific name copa from Latin meaning "dancing-girl."

Wingspan about 15 mm.

Adult - forewing dark gray with yellowish-brown basal patch that extends about halfway along costa as a tapering streak; median area with two small pale spots and a larger irregular-shaped spot arranged in a triangle; hindwing whitish with slightly darker shading near outer margin, and broad fringe along inner margin.

Records from Wyoming east to southern Ontario and Vermont, south to southern Illinois and Maryland. (1), (2)

Type locality: Snyder Heights, Ithaca, New York. (2)

Most records of adults from June through September. (1)

Larval hosts include goldenrod (Solidago, Asteraceae). (3)

Dichomeris costarufoella is similar but has a smaller and more yellowish basal patch, white speckling in the median area, and a pale patch along the costa near the apex.

Beadle, D. & S. Leckie 2012. Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America. Houghton Mifflin. p.66-67 (preview) (4)

Brown, J.W, D. Adamski, R.W. Hodges & S.M. Bahr, II 2004. Catalog of the type specimens of Gelechioidea (Lepidoptera) in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Zootaxa 510: 39 (PDF) (2)

Hodges, R.W. 1986. Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 7.1: p.92, pl.2.28 (5)