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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Plume Moths (Pterophoroidea) » Plume Moths (Pterophoridae) » Five-lobed Plume Moths (Pterophorinae) » Platyptiliini » Platyptilia » Artichoke Plume Moth - Hodges#6109 (Platyptilia carduidactylus)

Species Platyptilia carduidactylus - Artichoke Plume Moth - Hodges#6109

Representative Images

Plume moth - ? - Platyptilia carduidactylus Platyptilia carduidactylus - Artichoke Plume 6109 - Platyptilia carduidactylus Artichoke Plume Moth - Hodges #6109 (Platyptilia carduidactyla) - Platyptilia carduidactylus Artichoke Plume Moth - Hodges#6109 - Platyptilia carduidactylus Platyptilia carduidactylus? - Platyptilia carduidactylus Platyptilia carduidactylus Unknown Plume Moth - Platyptilia carduidactylus Pterophoridae, (Thistle) Plume Moth, dorsal - Platyptilia carduidactylus
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 Pterophoroidea (Plume Moths)
Family Pterophoridae (Plume Moths)
Subfamily Pterophorinae (Five-lobed Plume Moths)
Tribe Platyptiliini
Genus Platyptilia
Species carduidactylus (Artichoke Plume Moth - Hodges#6109)

Hodges Number

6109

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Platyptilia carduidactylus (Riley, 1869)
Bug Guide originally listed this as Platyptilia carduidactyla, which is now the most accepted synonym.

Size

wingspan 18-27 mm (1)
larva length to 15 mm

Identification

See the identification key for Platyptiliini.
See the species accounts in Hunt & Matthews (2020)(2), Gielis (2006)(3), Landry (1987)(4), and Barnes & Lindsey (1921)(5).

Adult: forewing brown with darker costal border that widens to form a triangle at top of postmedial line; subterminal line edged on both sides with white; hindwing gray with tiny black triangle on anal margin. (1)
inner margin of forewing concave, flaring noticeably near tip; reddish shading usually present in subterminal area; forewing lacks "stippled effect" characteristic of Geranium Plume Moth (see See Also section below)

Larva: head black; body of early instars orange; black spots on last abdominal segment; final instar off-white, turning yellowish to pink at maturity

Range

Labrador to Virginia, Texas(6), and west across Canada to British Columbia and south to California(1)

Habitat

adults come to light

Season

adults fly April-September (1)

Food

larvae feed on thistles (1) and all parts of artichokes

Life Cycle

Larva; adult; spent pupa

See Also

Geranium Plume Moth Amblyptilia pica forewing has several pale transverse lines along inner margin giving a "stippled effect", and usually lacks reddish shading in subterminal area

Paraplatyptilia (=Stenoptilodes) carolina has yellowish forewing whose inner margin doesn't flare noticeably near the tip

Print References

Covell, p. 391 & plate 58 #21 (1)

Internet References

description of all life stages plus overview of biology, control methods, common name reference (U. of California at Davis)
Pinned Images at MPG
Discover Life
Specimen image from Essig Museum at UC Berkeley

Works Cited

1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.
2.Pterophoridae recorded on Block Island (Rhode Island, USA), 2018-2019
Aaron Hunt and Deborah L. Matthews. 2020. News of The Lepidopterists' Society.
3.Review of the Neotropical species of the family Pterophoridae, part I
Cees Gielis. 2006. Zoologische Mededelingen.
4.A synopsis of the plume-moths of the subfamily Platyptiliinae (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) of eastern Canada
Bernard Landry. 1987.
5.The Pterophoridae of America, north of Mexico
William Barnes & A. W. Lindsey. 1921. The Review Press.
6.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
Contributed by Mike Boone on 18 August, 2006 - 5:40pm
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Maury Heiman, Ted Kropiewnicki, Aaron Schusteff, marcie oconnor, treichard
Last updated 13 July, 2025 - 8:07pm

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