Ethmia albistrigella

Ethmia albistrigella is a moth in the family Depressariidae. It is found in North America from southern British Columbia southward in the Rocky Mountains to south-western Colorado and into the Wasatch Range in northern Utah. On the Pacific coast it ranges through western Washington and Oregon into the mountains of California. Subspecies icariella is an Arctic-Alpine zone race which has only been recorded from California.

Ethmia albistrigella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Depressariidae
Genus:	Ethmia
Species:	E. albistrigella
Binomial name
Ethmia albistrigella (Walsingham, 1880)[1]
Synonyms
Psecadia albistrigella Walsingham, 1880 Breckenridgia chrysurella Dietz, 1905

The length of the forewings is 7.1–9.4 mm (0.28–0.37 in). The ground color of the forewings is dark blackish brown, darkest in the cell and paler toward the margins, with a distinct white longitudinal streak. The ground color of the hindwings is dark brown. Subspecies icariella is almost wholly black dorsally, including the abdomen. Adults are on wing from late April to early August.[2]

The larvae feed on Phacelia ramosissima and possibly Lappula floribunda. Subspecies icariella probably feeds on Phacelia frigida.

Subspecies

• Ethmia albistrigella albistrigella (southern British Columbia southward in the Rocky Mountains to south-western Colorado and into the Wasatch Range in northern Utah. On the Pacific coast it ranges through western Washington and Oregon into the mountains of California)
• Ethmia albistrigella icariella Powell, 1973 (Mono Pass, Inyo County, California)

References

1. mothphotographersgroup
2. Powell, Jerry (1973). "A Systematic Monograph of New World Ethmiid Moths (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea)". Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology (120). Retrieved 12 June 2020.