y-inversus

P. y-inversus Riley

Adult Characteristics

Wing expanse 11-16 mm. Forewing near white with dark brown bands transecting the wing; bands lighter in the male. The bands form a diagnostic inversed Y in the outer portion of the wing. Hindwing pale brown.

Comparison with similar species

The inversed Y is a certain diagnostic trait of the species.

Hosts, oviposition, and larval feeding habits

The species is reported from Yucca baccata and Y. schottii (Agavaceae). In both cases, the larva feeds in a gallery inside the fruit, and it eventually creates a hardened pupation gallery. Fruits with many larvae become hardened in their entirety and can remain intact for long periods of time.

Old Y. baccata with many emergence holes from P. y-inversus; Dona Ana Co., New Mexico.

Geographic distribution

Reported only from southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and southern Nevada.

Habitat

In shrubby desert and open forest with a host.

Shrubby desert with Y. baccata; Dona Ana Co., New Mexico.

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.
Powell, J.A. 1984. Biological interrelationships of moths and Yucca schottii.
          Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol. 100:1-93.

Lectotype 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 illustration: Female, Dona Ana Co., New Mexico.