quinquepunctellus

P. quinquepunctellus (Chambers)

Adult Characteristics

Wing expanse 12-23 mm. Forewing pure white or with 1-14 small spots, rarely forming streaks. Hindwings ranging from gray to near white, but always darker than the forewing.

Comparison with similar species

Some members of the Tegeticula yuccasella complex may be confused with larger individuals of this species. Prodoxus is generally less robust and typically smaller. The female has a far thicker ovipositor than does yuccasella. The male, which has very large valvae, lacks the pollex and instead has numerous blunt spines along the valval edge.

Hosts, oviposition, and larval feeding habits

The species utilizes many capsular-fruited yuccas (Agavaceae). Larvae feed inside the inflorescence stalk, and pupation takes place inside the gallery. A few records from fleshy-fruited yuccas were assumed by Frack (1982) to have resulted from mislabelling.

Geographic distribution

Prodoxus quinquepunctellus occurs throughout the composite range of its capsular-fruited hosts, including areas where the hosts have been introduced. the northern limit is most likely in southern Alberta, Canada, and the southern limit on the Mexican Plateau of northern Mexico.

Habitat

In desert, grassland, openings in pine or deciduous forest, or coastal chaparral and dunes with Yucca.

Shrubby grassland in Comanche Co., Texas, and a cleared area in Lowndes Co., Mississippi, represent two typical habitats of host yuccas.

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.

Lectotype in MCZ.

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, Brewster Co., Texas; female, Comanche Co., Texas, USA.