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Species Pelochrista totana - Hodges#3089

Representative Images

Pelochrista totana Pelochrista totana
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 Tortricoidea (Tortricid Moths)
Family Tortricidae (Tortricid Moths)
Subfamily Olethreutinae
Tribe Eucosmini
Genus Pelochrista
No Taxon (luridana group)
Species totana (Pelochrista totana - Hodges#3089)

Hodges Number

3089

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Pelochrista totana (Kearfott, 1907) (1)
Eucosma totana Kearfott, 1907 (2)
Eucosma spodias Meyrick, 1912 (3)
Phylogentic sequence #621044

Explanation of Names

Specific epithet is part of a series of Kearfott names originating from various alphabetical rhyming schemes with no meaning, often derided by subsequent authors as "nonsense names." See Brown (2001) for a humorous take on this "barbaric" practice. (4), (3)

Size

Forewing length: 7.4-10.5 mm (5), (6)

Identification

Description online: (2), (6)
Forewing markings are consistent but the color is variable from very pale tan to medium brown.(5)
Specimen determined by Chuck Harp

Range

Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. (5)
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.
Described material: Stockton, UT (Tom Spalding, July 1st-Sept. 1st); south Utah (O.C. Poling, July).

Habitat

Sagebrush habitat at 5,000' to 8,000' elevation.(5)

Season

The adults are most common from July through October. (7)

Food

The larval host is Chrysothamnus nauseosus (Pall.) Britt. (rabbitbrush) Asteraceae. (5)

See Also

Compare on the pinned plates of Moth Photographers Group.

Print References

Heinrich, C. 1923. Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, 123: 10. (6).
Kearfott, W.D., 1907. New North America Tortricidae. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 33(1): 32. (2)
Wright, D.J. 2005. Some Eucosmini (Tortricidae) associated with Eucosma emaciatana (Walsingham) and Eucosma totana Kearfott; four new species, a new combination, and a new synonymy. (5)

Works Cited

1.Revised world catalogue of Eucopina, Eucosma, Pelochrista, and Phaneta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Eucosmini)
Todd M. Gilligan, Donald J. Wright. 2013. Zootaxa 3746(2): 301–337.
2.New North American Tortricidae.
William Dunham Kearfott. 1907. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 33(1): 1-97.
3.On some impossible specific names in micro-lepidoptera.
Edward Meyrick. 1912. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 48: 32-36.
4.Presidential address, 2000: Nomenclatural nonsense - flying in the face of a farcical code.
John W. Brown. 2001. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 55(1): 1-7.
5.Some Eucosmini (Tortricidae) associated with Eucosma emaciatana (Walsingham) and Eucosma totana...
Donald J. Wright. 2005. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 59(3): 121-133.
6.Revision of the North American moths of the subfamily Eucosminae of the family Olethreutidae
Carl Heinrich. 1923. United States National Museum Bulletin 123: 1-298.
7.North American Moth Photographers Group
8.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems