coloradensis

P. coloradensis Riley

Adult Characteristics

Wing expanse 8-14 mm. Dorsum dark brown, with some white scales. Forewing mostly dark brown with numerous white bands and patches, creating a checkerspot appearance. Hindwings ranging light to medium gray.

Comparison with similar species

Very similar to Prodoxus phylloryctus, which coexists with it in some areas. Adults have some white scales on the dorsum (absent in phylloryctus), forewing scales are ovoid and broader in the outher portion (parallel-sided in phylloryctus), and the dorsoventral vincular lobes in the male genitalia tend to be quadrate (rounded in phylloryctus).

Hosts, oviposition, and larval feeding habits

Reported from numerous fleshy-fruited yuccas and two capsular-fruited yuccas (Davis 1967). The two latter have been challenged by Frack (1982) as likely cases of incorrect labelling. Larvae mine inside all parts of the floral rachis, and pupate just below the surface.

Geographic distribution

Throughout the range of fleshy-fruited yuccas in the USA, from the California Mojave desert in the west to central Texas in the east, and from southern Colorado to the U.S.-Mexican border.

Habitat

In shrubby desert or open oak-pine forest with fleshy-fruited yuccas.

Shrubby desert with Y. baccata in Dona Ana Co., New Mexico, and higher-elevation site in San Juan Co., Colorado, USA.

References

Davis, D.R. 1967. A revision of the moths of the subfamily Prodoxinae 
          (Lepidoptera: Incurvariidae). U.S. Nat. Hist. Mus., 
          Bull. 255:1-170. Smiths. Contrib. Zool. 524:1-88.
Frack, D.C. 1982. A systematic study of prodoxine moths (Adelidae: 
          Prodoxinae) and their hosts (Agavaceae), with descriptions 
          of the subfamilies of Adelidae (s. lat.). M.S. thesis, 
          California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA.

Holotype in USNM.

About this page

Olle Pellmyr
E-mail: pellmyr@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.
Dept of Biology, Vanderbilt University, Box 1812-B Nashville, TN 37235, USA

Title illustrations: Male and female from Riverside Co., California, USA.