Tribe: Lithosiini
Species: Clemensia albata
Hodges: 8098
Flight Period: April - Early November
Length: 9-13mm
Peterson: 293
Hosts: Lichen
Field Notes: Talk about almost invisible. The little white lichen moth personifies the Troy Meadow Moth project. It is so tiny and innocuous that only a field survey with extreme attracting equipment can entice it to the forefront. Without such equipment these enigmatic life forms are virtually non-existent to our biped perceptions. All of the moths in this guide are real and now we know they all exist out at the Meadows whose sum-total of natural activities keep the ecological engine at full bore. As the name implies this species feeds on tree lichen. Notice its long potential flight period - probably why the moth can have up to three generations in a single year.
Species: Clepsis peritana
Species: Clostera apicalis
Hodges: 7901
Flight Period: April - Early October
Length: 17-19mm
Peterson: 271
Hosts: Willow and popular
Field Notes: A 3-season Moth, this non-descript, cryptic Prominent species has two broods a year, therefore it can pop up anytime your in the vicinity of its host trees - willow and popular. Look for it low to the ground in typical Prominent posture - laterally compressed (see image right). This strictly nocturnal Prominent will come to lights sporadically, appearing tactfully without fanfare. What I mean by this is some moths, i.e. Abbot Sphinx, will make a grand entrance to the light signature by buzzing around and around before finally alighting on something, noticed by sound even before it's seen, whereas tiny apicalis you'd swear crawled stealthily into your light-footprint like a ninja into an enemy fortress.
Francis Walker described this moth in 1855; one of 20,000 insects he took part in naming in his illustrious career as a taxonomist and entomologist.
Species: Coelostathma discopunctana
Species: Colocasia propinquilinea
Species: Concullia convexipennis
Species: Condica vecors
Hodges: 9696
Flight Period: April - October
Length: 16-18mm
Peterson: 419
Hosts: Reported on lettuce. In wild setting Eupatoriums - dogfennel, joe pye weed and white snakeroot
Field Notes: Two distinct black claviform spots and white-filled reniforms make this moth easy to identify. A moth of disturbed sites - fields, road edges, yards, and other open habitats. Anyone out moth hunting in the meadows for members of the silent majority will sooner or later cross paths with this dusky little groundling. The larvae of this moth are Eupatoriumivores. White snakeroot is especially abundant in Troy Meadows where open uplands and shaded forest edges interface. Dusky groundlings have a long flight period allowing for the occurrence of two broods (bivolvine). Long flight periods, plenty of larval food plants, and double brooding, is why this moth is common out at the meadows - you'll find it coming to lights in small numbers.
Species: Condica videns
Hodges: 9690
Flight Period: April - Early October
Length: 13-18mm
Peterson: 419
Hosts: Aster and goldenrod
Field Notes: C. videns is a specialist of aster and goldenrod - which there is plenty of throughout the many sub-habitat upland and wetland areas. The area that is Troy Meadows may be its farthest winter range where the species overwinters as a pupa. Keeping records of this aspect of the moths life history may help scientists in the future monitor the earths ever changing climate. You have to appreciate the contrast of start hues between the forewing and hindwings - this may be used in defense if flashed about during predator/ prey interactions. The moth on this plate was found on August 8th 2012.
Species: Condica xanthioides
Species: Condylolomia participalis
