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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths (Pyraloidea) » Crambid Snout Moths (Crambidae) » Spilomelinae » Nomophilini » Nomophila » Lucerne Moth - Hodges#5156 (Nomophila nearctica)

Species Nomophila nearctica - Lucerne Moth - Hodges#5156

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited
Nomophila nearctica Light brown moth with dark bands on wings - Nomophila nearctica Moth - Nomophila nearctica Lucerne Moth - Hodges#5156 - Nomophila nearctica Please help us to identify this moth. - Nomophila nearctica 801365 Nomophila nearctica - Nomophila nearctica Lucerne Moth - Nomophila nearctica Nomophila nearctica
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 Spilomelinae
Tribe Nomophilini
Genus Nomophila
Species nearctica (Lucerne Moth - Hodges#5156)
Hodges Number
5156
Other Common Names
Adult called Clover Nomophila
Larva called False Webworm, Celery Stalkworm, American Celery Webworm
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Nomophila nearctica Munroe, 1973
* phylogenetic sequence #154225
Numbers
One of two species in this genus in our area.
Size
wingspan 24-35 mm
Identification
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
Range
e. N. Amer. to CA / Mex. / W. Indies - Map (MPG)
Habitat
fields, roadsides, weedy waste places; adults are nocturnal and come to light
Season
Adults fly at least May through October on Block Island, RI, and are most common there from August to October.(1)
Food
larvae feed on celery, grasses, Lucerne or Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), smartweed (Polygonum spp.), sweet clover (Melilotus spp.) and various other low herbaceous plants
Remarks
Type locality: Canada, Nova Scotia, Petite Rivière
See Also
5098 - Udea turmalis
- Range: w. US
Print References
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)
Internet References
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)
Works Cited
1.Block Island Moths
2.Check list of the Lepidoptera of America north of Mexico.
Hodges, et al. (editors). 1983. E. W. Classey, London. 284 pp.
3.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 4 January, 2005 - 9:11pm
Additional contributions by john and jane balaban, Mike Quinn, Maury Heiman, Ted Kropiewnicki, Kyhl Austin, Blocky
Last updated 17 June, 2022 - 7:21pm

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