Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Schinia villosa - Little Dark Gem - Hodges#11083

Moth like Schinia on clover - Schinia villosa High elevation moth on Taraxacum - Schinia? - Schinia villosa High elevation moth on Taraxacum - Schinia? - Schinia villosa Little not-so-dark Gem - Schinia villosa noctuid moth on bistort - Schinia villosa
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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Heliothinae
Genus Schinia (Flower Moths)
Species villosa (Little Dark Gem - Hodges#11083)
Hodges Number
11083
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Schinia villosa (Grote(1), 1864) (2)
Heliothis villosa Grote, 1864
Melicleptria villosa (Grote, 1864) (3)
Phylogenetic sequence # 932104
Size
Wingspan about 20 mm. (4),(5)
Identification

Mature larvae are light green with a darker green bands and lines along the length. (6)
Range
British Columbia to Saskatchewan and south to Colorado and northern Arizona. (6)
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.
Habitat
Occurs at upper elevations below the treeline. (montane species). (6)
Season
Adults fly from June to August. (4), (5)
Food
Larval host(6) is Erigeron L. spp. (fleabane)
Adults can be found at flowers during the day. (diurnal)
Life Cycle
Adults often rest on the blooms of the host plant and lay eggs between the florets. (6)
Larvae are cannibalistic and compete for a single flower. They burrow below the seed head and only feed on the surface during the last instar.(6)
See Also
Schinia persimilis which can be brownish at times.
Print References
Grotes, A.R. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phaaenae in the British Museum, p. (20).
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. plate 52, fig. 41; p. 292. (6)