Eucosma but which species? - Pelochrista agassizii

Moved to Pelochrista agassizii

Moved from Pelochrista.

Tentative ID. P. agassizii seems to be the best fit however, that species, P. bolanderana, and P. gilletteana may not be separable. See Remaks on the Info page.

I checked the original description for Pelochrista bolanderana here. Your example has a small streak on the costa just before the middle and a small spot along the costa surrounded by two elongated spots beyond the middle. It also has a streak in the inner margin which extends beyond the midpoint. From what I can tell the only ways in which your example does not match the description do not appear to matter based on BOLD samples. BOLD has two samples with public data, one from Utah in June and the other from Texas in May.

… Steve Nanz, 22 October, 2015 - 4:24am

Further confirmation

Using MONA Fascicle 9.5, which I just recently acquired, bolanderana is easily eliminated and agassizii now includes gilletteana as a synonym.

… Steve Nanz, 2 December, 2018 - 12:56pm

Moved

Moved from Eucosma.

Species this resembles are were transferred to Pelochrista by Gilligan & Wright (2013) (1)

Best match I found: BOLD images of Eucosma agassizii

This is very odd because MPG says "Eucosma aemulana (Schlager, 1849) replaces Eucosma agassizii (Robinson, 1869)." Possibly an error as Eucosma agassizii was transferred to Pelochrista by Gilligan & Wright (2013) (1). Also, the two species look nothing like each other. Anyway, the original description here seems to work fairly well as does the flight period. Not sure if range is an issue.

Next best match I found is Pelochrista bolanderana, BOLD images here.

… Steve Nanz, 21 October, 2015 - 4:56pm

All too confusing ...

Jerry Fauske said this moth looked like Pelochrista aemulana. I based the guide page on the Todd Gilligan's Eucosma aemulana on MPG. Then, I see the images on BOLD look nothing like that. Feel free to jump in anytime, Steve. Thanks

… Robert Lord Zimlich, 3 August, 2016 - 7:13pm

Todd Gilligan image

The Todd Gilligan image listed at MPG as Eucosma aemulana is shown at Tortricid.net here as Eucosma agassizi. The image is flipped with the background removed but I superimposed the two images and they are the same specimen. I still don't know how the two species were conflated.

… Steve Nanz, 24 April, 2017 - 4:10am

I'm confused. What is your id

I'm confused. What is your id of ths moth?

… William Geoghegan, 24 April, 2017 - 11:29am

Pelochrista agassizii

I still think agassizii is correct.

Sorry for making this confusing. I was just pointing out that Robert made a good call suggesting Todd Gilligan's Eucosma aemulana on MPG because it turns out that image is actually of agassizii. I still don't know why MPG got the names mixed up.

… Steve Nanz, 24 April, 2017 - 11:54am

Moved

Moved from Moths.

… Jason J. Dombroskie, 5 June, 2011 - 6:29pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… John R. Maxwell, 27 May, 2011 - 8:37am

my best guess is...

3014 – Eucosma ridingsana – Snakeweed Borer Moth ...
but just a guess

… Nina, 26 May, 2011 - 6:06pm

I looked at Eucosma and I agr

I looked at Eucosma and I agree it resembles them.

… William Geoghegan, 26 May, 2011 - 6:27pm

from Powel & Opler

I looked at plate 15 in my copy of Powel and Opler, and photos 15.24 and 15.25 are also the closest match, I didn't look at the names until after compared your photo to all the plates on that page--just so happens, those two photos are also. E. ridingsana, a male and a female. The range is appears correct for yours. Unless someone with a speciality in Western species chimes in, I think this may be the closest we can get.

… Nina, 27 May, 2011 - 6:41am

and...

after reading through the text about the genus (pages 133 to 135), E.r. still seems correct for location and description. P & O state it's the most widespread of the Eucosoma group, and is seen in the arid areas of the Western states. However, my one major concern with this one is that the text on E.r. doesn't indicate flight season. The one here on BG all seem to have been photographed closer to August. Keep in mind, though, that unless identified by DNA, all info here on BG is prone to error in ID by just physical features.

… Nina, 27 May, 2011 - 6:53am

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for your comments. I hadn't thought about the flight season.

… William Geoghegan, 27 May, 2011 - 7:43am