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Species Erechthias minuscula - Caribbean Scavenger Moth - Hodges#0304

Moth - Erechthias minuscula Moth - Erechthias minuscula Moth - Erechthias minuscula
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 Tineoidea (Tubeworm, Bagworm, and Clothes Moths)
Family Tineidae (Clothes Moths)
Subfamily Erechthiinae
Genus Erechthias
Species minuscula (Caribbean Scavenger Moth - Hodges#0304)
Hodges Number
0304
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Erechthias minuscula (Walsingham, 1897)
Ereunetis minuscula Walsingham, 1897
Decadarchis minuscula Meyrick, 1915
Lepidobregma minuscula Zimmerman, 1978
Numbers
one of 2 species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps
Size
FWL≈3.5-4mm (1)
Identification
Adult: FW ground color is mostly cream or pale straw-colored. The forewings, which are strongly upturned at the tips, are variably and extensively marked with pale to dark brown scales. (1)
Larve: See Zimmerman, E.C., 1978 in Print References below
Range
Widespread, recorded from Africa, Australia, West Indies, Hawaii and Florida. (1)
Found throughout the world. It may be an introduced species.
Food
Larvae are scavengers in dead plant materials and may be found in dead tree trunks, stems, leaves, fruits, and seed pods. Recorded plant material used as food includes banana, Cassia, eggplant, fig, Lantana, palms. (1)
See Zimmerman, E.C., 1978 in Print References below
Print References
Davis, D.R., Mendel, H., 2013. The genus Erechthias Meyrick of Ascension Island, including discovery of a new brachypterous species (Lepidoptera, Tineidae). ZooKeys, 341: 1-20
Walsingham, 1897. Revision of the West-Indian Micro-Lepidoptera, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1897: 155
Zimmerman, E.C., 1978. Microlepidoptera. Insects of Hawaii. 9(1):352 (includes detailed description of all stages and keys)
Internet References
New Zealand Biosecurity – description & images
presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
Wikipedia - detailed description and image of a live and a pinned adult (1)