Miniature butterfly(?) that lives on pearly everlasting - Tebenna onustana

Moved

Moved from Everlasting Tebenna Moth. Sorry for the double move, but this seems to fit better with the whiter species.

… john and jane balaban, 3 July, 2011 - 10:27am

Host plant is pearly everlasting

Hi,
I'm wondering if it indeed is an Everlasting since the only place I see these (and I see them every year) is on my patch of pearly everlastings. They're all over these plants, but not on anything else. (I don't know what the host plant is for T. onustana - if it's also pearly everlasting, then you're probably correct.)
Janet

… Janet Allen, 23 August, 2011 - 10:26am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… john and jane balaban, 3 July, 2011 - 10:24am

Tebenna? beautiful moth [not a butterfly]

compare:

i'm no expert, so please wait for more comments; 3 cm sounds like an overestimate, though --did you mean 3 mm instead? at 3 cm this would be a rather large insect, and a huge leaf, too...

… v belov, 3 July, 2011 - 8:50am

Oops! Yes, millimeters

Definitely millimeters - it's very tiny.

(I wish the US would have converted to the metric system decades ago.
I'm not used to using it, but it's certainly a better system.)

… Janet Allen, 3 July, 2011 - 8:55am

thanks -- corrected

i'm now pretty sure this is indeed T. gnaphaliella -- check out this MPG page

… v belov, 3 July, 2011 - 8:59am

Thanks!

Yes, it looks just like that moth.
I guess there are more interesting moths around than I knew.

… Janet Allen, 3 July, 2011 - 9:39am

i'm not at all into moths, but i see perhaps a couple of dozen spp. every night at my patio lights, and maybe close to 300 spp. during the season. i have a tiny backyard in a heavily developed suburban area, a 40' commute from NY Penn Stn.

… v belov, 3 July, 2011 - 9:46am

Moths and more in a habitat garden

I added this little moth to the moth page on my website: www.OurHabitatGarden.org .

Even in a very small yard, there's a lot you can do to provide habitat for all sorts of little creatures.

… Janet Allen, 3 July, 2011 - 9:50am

i know that...

i used to keep a nicest stack of decaying hardwood for years in the back as substrate supporting a thriving community of borers & saproxylic beetles -- but was eventually forced to get rid of the 'eyesore' [not without much fighting with wife and neighbors]
too many rules & ordinances; i would prefer having weeds and whatever happens to germinate on my land to those depressing lawns...

… v belov, 3 July, 2011 - 10:29am