Species Nomophila nearctica - Lucerne Moth - Hodges#5156

5156

Adult called Clover Nomophila

Larva called False Webworm, Celery Stalkworm, American Celery Webworm

Nomophila nearctica Munroe, 1973

* phylogenetic sequence #154225

One of two species in this genus in our area.

wingspan 24-35 mm

Adult: at rest, wings are overlapped and hugged against abdomen, giving a long and narrow profile; forewing elongate, grayish-brown with two side-by-side dark oval spots (the claviform and orbicular spots) near middle of wing, and another dark bilobed spot (the reniform) a little farther out; hindwing much broader than forewing, pale brownish-gray with whitish fringe

Larva: head black; abdomen variably light brown to dark gray with bumpy surface and sparse long hairs; thin dark dorsal line bordered by narrow pale strip

e. N. Amer. to CA / Mex. / W. Indies - Map (MPG)

fields, roadsides, weedy waste places; adults are nocturnal and come to light

Adults fly at least May through October on Block Island, RI, and are most common there from August to October.(1)

larvae feed on celery, grasses, Lucerne or Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), smartweed (Polygonum spp.), sweet clover (Melilotus spp.) and various other low herbaceous plants

Type locality: Canada, Nova Scotia, Petite Rivière

5098 - Udea turmalis

- Range: w. US

Hodges, Ronald W. (ed.) 1983. Check List of the Lepidoptera of America North of Mexico. (2)

Munroe, E. G. 1973 a: A supposedly cosmopolitan insect: The celery webworm and allies, genus Nomophila Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). – The Canadian Entomologist, Ottawa 105 (2): 190–194, figs 5, 18, 33–34.

Powell, J. A., and P. A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. pl. 23.30f; p. 179.(3)

Moth Photographers Group - range map, photos of living and pinned adults.

BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems - species account with collection map and photos of pinned adults.

adult images (Larry Line, Maryland)

presence in Florida; list plus common name reference [American Celery Webworm] (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)

Moths of Brackenridge Field Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin - on central Texas checklist.

presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)