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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) » Oxyptilini » Megalorhipida  (Megalorhipida) » Spiderling Plume Moth - Hodges#6104 (Megalorhipida leucodactylus)

Species Megalorhipida leucodactylus - Spiderling Plume Moth - Hodges#6104

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Food · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Plume Moth larva - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Megalorrhipida leucodactylus - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Megalorrhipida leucodactylus - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Megalorrhipida leucodactylus - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Plume moth? - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Plume moth - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Plume moth - Megalorhipida leucodactylus Megalorhipida leucodactylus
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 Oxyptilini
Genus Megalorhipida (Megalorhipida )
Species leucodactylus (Spiderling Plume Moth - Hodges#6104)
Hodges Number
6104
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Megalorhipida leucodactylus (Fabricius, 1794)
Pterophorus leucodactylus Fabricius, 1794
Pterophorus defectalis Walker, 1864
* phylogenetic sequence #182275
Size
Wingspan 12-18.5 mm (Matthews, 2008).
Larva to 10 mm (Matthews, 2008).
Pupa to 8 mm (Matthews, 2008).
Identification
See the identification key for Oxyptilini.
See the species accounts in Matthews (2008)(1), Matthews et al. (2019a)(2), Matthews et al. (2019b)(3), Gielis (2006)(4), and Barnes & Lindsey (1921)(5) as Trichoptilus defectalis.
Megalorhipida leucodactylus adults have:
  • a forewing second lobe that is narrow with an acute apex, as in Buckleria, Dejongia, Trichoptilus, and Megalorhipida, and not broader with a well developed, curved outer margin, as in Sphenarches, Geina, Capperia, and Oxyptilus.
  • antennae with longitudinal brown and white lines, as in Dejongia californicus and unlike in Dejongia lobidactylus and Trichoptilus.
  • diverging, disconnected, white subdorsal lines on abdominal segments two and three, extending across nearly the whole of both segments, and usually obsolete on segment 4, unlike in Dejongia lobidactylus (white subdorsal lines of segment three extended across only the posterior 1/2 to 2/3 of segment), unlike in Buckleria parvulus (continuous, white subdorsal lines across most segments, including segment four), and unlike in Trichoptilus (no conspicuous subdorsal lines).
  • a white middorsal line often present on the abdomen, unlike in Dejongia.
Food
Larvae feed on plants in the four o'clock family (Nyctaginaceae), most commonly the ovules of unripe fruits of spiderling, including scarlet spiderling (Boerhavia coccinea) and red spiderling (Boerhavia diffusa). In southern Florida they also skeletonize the leaves of burrowing four o'clock (Okenia hypogaea) (Matthews, 2008).
See Also
Dejongia californicus
Print References
Matthews, D. L. 2008. The spiderling plume moth Megalorhipida leucodactylus (Fabricius) (Pterophoridae) in Florida and Texas. Southern Lepidopterists' News 30(4): 132-134, f.1-9 (PDF)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - species page
Works Cited
1.The Spiderling Plume Moth Megalorhipida leucodactylus (Fabricius) (Pterophoridae) in Florida and Texas
Deborah L. Matthews. 2008. Southern Lepidopterists' News.
2.Additions to the plume moth fauna of The Bahamas (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) with description of four new species
Deborah L. Matthews et al. 2019. Insecta Mundi.
3.Plume moths recorded from the United States naval base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Deborah Matthews et al. 2019. News of the Lepidopterists' Society.
4.Review of the Neotropical species of the family Pterophoridae, part I
Cees Gielis. 2006. Zoologische Mededelingen.
5.The Pterophoridae of America, north of Mexico
William Barnes & A. W. Lindsey. 1921. The Review Press.
Contributed by Dennis Profant on 31 August, 2006 - 5:30pm
Additional contributions by Jeff Hollenbeck, Chuck Entz, Randy Hardy, treichard
Last updated 24 July, 2024 - 11:34am

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