Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Agriphila ruricolellus - Lesser Vagabond Sod Webworm - Hodges#5399

Lesser Vagabond Sod Webworm - Agriphila ruricolellus 5399  Lesser Vagabond Sod Webworm  - Agriphila ruricolellus Vagabond Crambus? - Agriphila ruricolellus Lesser Vagabond Sod Webworm Moth - Agriphila ruricolellus Agriphila ruricolellus Agriphila ruricolellus Agriphila ruricolellus Agriphila ruricolellus
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 Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Crambidae (Crambid Snout Moths)
Subfamily Crambinae (Crambine Snout Moths)
Tribe Crambini (Grass-Veneers)
Genus Agriphila
Species ruricolellus (Lesser Vagabond Sod Webworm - Hodges#5399)
Hodges Number
5399
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Agriphila ruricolellus – (Zeller, 1863)
* Phylogenetic sequence #279900.
Size
Wingspan 17-20 mm.
Identification
Adult: forewing pale yellowish with reddish-brown speckling between veins, giving a streaked appearance to the wing; median line represented by a diagonal smear or diffuse smudge (sometimes faint) across veins; subterminal (ST) line indistinct and incomplete but usually visible; terminal line composed of seven black evenly-spaced dots; fringe scales gold or silvery, usually with black base.
Range
Quebec and Maine to South Carolina, west to Arizona, north to Alberta.
Habitat
Grasslands, weedy areas, fields, cultivated land.
Season
Adults fly from July to September. Brimley (1) lists for August in North Carolina mountains.
Food
Larvae feed on grasses and Common Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella).
Life Cycle
One generation per year; overwinters as an immature larva.
See Also
Vagabond Crambus (Agriphila vulgivagella) is larger and forewing lacks diagonal lines or smears crossing the veins

Cranberry Girdler (Chrysoteuchia topiaria) forewing has distinct ST line, and terminal line is solid near apex, rather than consisting entirely of separate black dots
Print References
Covell, p. 403--A. vulgivagella (2)
Brimley, p. 298--Crambus ricolellus (1)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - range map, photos of living and pinned adults.
BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems - collection map and pinned adults.
pinned adult image plus habitat, flight season, description, food plants, distribution (Strickland Entomological Museum, U. of Alberta)
large adult image by C.D. Bird that goes with the above U. of Alberta link [the thumbnail image in that link doesn't enlarge]
pinned adult image (Larry Line, Maryland)
presence in South Carolina; county map (Furman U., South Carolina)
presence in Arizona; list (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
Works Cited
1.Insects of North Carolina
C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
2.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.