Species Rumatha polingella - Hodges#5980

5980

Rumatha polingella (Dyar, 1906)

Zophodia polingella Dyar, 1906 (1)

Named in honor of ornithologist and entomologist Otho C. Poling (1879-1929) of Quincy, Illinois. Poling collected throughout the mountains and deserts of the American southwest, including California, southern Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas and Utah in two distinct periods (1900-1906 and 1922-1929). Many of his specimens were described by William Barnes and he had fourteen species of moths named for him. (2)

There are four named Rumatha species in America north of Mexico. (3)

Dyar (1906) listed the wingspan as 26-32 mm. (1)

MONA Fascicle 15.4 lists wing length of 11.0-16.5 mm

California to western Texas.

Adults are most common from June to August.

The larval host plant is Cylindropuntia sp.

Rumatha glaucatella - much smaller (7.0-9.0 wing length) and paler according to MONA Fascicle 15.4

Dyar, H.G. 1906. Descriptions of new American moths. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 14: 31. (1)

Neunzig, H.H., 1997. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 15.4, 75, pl. 3.31-32. (4)

Moth Photographers Group (5)