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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Pyralid Moths (Pyralidae) » Phycitinae » Phycitini » Sarata Series » Elasmopalpus » Lesser Cornstalk Borer - Hodges#5896 (Elasmopalpus lignosella)

Species Elasmopalpus lignosella - Lesser Cornstalk Borer - Hodges#5896

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Lesser Cornstalk Borer - Elasmopalpus lignosella Small dark moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella Moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella Unknown moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella Hodges #5896 - Lesser Cornstalkborer Moth - Elasmopalpus lignosella - male Thin Moth with Crest on Hairy Asters - Elasmopalpus lignosella - male
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 Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Pyralidae (Pyralid Moths)
Subfamily Phycitinae
Tribe Phycitini
No Taxon (Sarata Series)
Genus Elasmopalpus
Species lignosella (Lesser Cornstalk Borer - Hodges#5896)
Hodges Number
5896
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Elasmopalpus lignosella (Zeller, 1848)
Pempelia lignosella (Zeller, 1848)
Elasmopalpus angustellus (Blanchard, 1852)
Size
Luginbill & Ainslie (1917) reported the wingspan 17-22 mm.
Larva to 16 mm
Pupa 8.2 mm
Cocoon 15.9 mm
Identification
Adult - sexually dimorphic. Males are tan with dark streaks along the costa and inner margin. The tan coloring is reduced to a longitudinal stripe in the females and they have much more dark scaling. Some females are basically black with red scaling at the base of the forewing. (1)
Range
Eastern and southwestern United States and south throughout South America.
Habitat
Can be abundant in cultivated fields with poor soils.
Food
Luginbill & Ainslie (1917) stated the larvae feed on grasses and a variety of commercial crops including beans, corn (a serious pest), cowpeas, peanuts, sorghum, sugar cane, turnips, wheat.
Life Cycle
Luginbill & Ainslie (1917) describe life cycle in PDF
Overwinter as larvae or pupae.(2)
Up to 4 generations per year in the south.(2)
Print References
Luginbill, P. & G.G. Ainslie 1917. The lesser corn stalk-borer. USDA Bulletin 539: 1-27. PDF
Neunzig, H.H. 2003. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 15.5. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation., p. 232; plate 9, figs. 9-10. (3)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. plate 26, fig. 2; p. 193. (1)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (4)
University of Florida Featured Creatures
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (5)
OK State U.
Works Cited
1.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
2.Eastern Forest Insects
Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.
3.The Moths of America North of Mexico. Fascicle 15.5. Pyraloidea, Pyralidae, Phycitinae
H. H. Neunzig. 2003. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.
4.North American Moth Photographers Group
5.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
Contributed by Jeff Hollenbeck on 6 August, 2006 - 10:31am
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Beatriz Moisset, Maury Heiman, Ted Kropiewnicki, Randy Hardy, Marci Hess
Last updated 26 August, 2023 - 3:34pm

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