Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Neoheliodines vernius - Hodges#2502.7

Heliodinidae, possibly Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius Heliodinidae, possibly Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius Neoheliodines vernius moth on cryptantha - Neoheliodines vernius Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius Neoheliodines vernius? - Neoheliodines vernius - male - female
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 Yponomeutoidea (Ermine Moths and kin)
Family Heliodinidae (Sun Moths)
Genus Neoheliodines
Species vernius (Neoheliodines vernius - Hodges#2502.7)
Hodges Number
2502.7
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Neoheliodines vernius Hsu, 2005 (1)
* phylogenetic sequence #078425
Explanation of Names
Specific epithet vernius is from an adjective of Latin origin, vernis, meaning "spring," so named because it flies in the spring months. (1)
Size
Forewing length 3-4.3 mm. (1), (2)
Identification
Adult - original description available in Print References. (1)
Range
Arizona, California and Baja California, Mexico. (1)
Season
Records from late February through May. (1)
Food
Larvae feed in the flowers and fruits of desert wishbone-bush (Mirabilis laevis var. laevis; syn. Mirabilis californica) and wishbone-bush (Mirabilis laevis var. villosa; syn. M. bigelovii). (1), (2)
Life Cycle
Pupation probably occurs in debris near the host. Adults are diurnal but will visit night blooming flowers in late evening. (1)
See Also
Neoheliodines hodgesi flies from June through August. (1)
Embola powelli is another summer species, with only two silver markings on the inner forewing, not three, and the innermost one usually forms a transverse stripe.
Print References
Hsu, Yu-Feng & J.A. Powell, 2004. Phylogenetic Relationships within Heliodinidae and Systematics of Moths Formerly Assigned to Heliodines Stainton (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology, 124: 64-67 (PDF)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.Phylogenetic Relationships within Heliodinidae and Systematics of Moths Formerly Assigned to Heliodines Stainton
Yu-Feng Hsu & Jerry A. Powell. 2004. University of California Publications in Entomology 124.
2.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.