Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

6 June 2005   9:25PM EST  (top left and right)
6 June 2005   (date of moth capture)  (bottom)
All three photos are of the same specimen.

Caloptilia packardella is one of 19 species of Caloptilia recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001), most or all of which are difficult or impossible to identify from photographs alone.  My thanks to Dr. Jean-François Landry of Agriculture Canada for identifying the specimen illustrated above, which was collected and given to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa.  For further information on Caloptilia packardella, I have relied on Forbes, William T.M., The Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States, Primitive Forms, Microlepidoptera, Pyraloids, Bombyces (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1923).

Caloptilia packardella has an orange forewing, said by Forbes (1923) to have a "strong crimson iridescence" that is not evident in the specimen illustrated above.  A nearly equilateral yellow triangle has its base along the middle of the costa, and reaches nearly to the inner margin.  There is a streak of yellow along the inner margin, extending a short distance outward from the base.  This species has a white face.  Like many of the Caloptilia, it rests propped up on its forelegs and midlegs, which are brown with white tibia and tarsus.  Forbes gives a wingspan of 12 mm for this species.

According to Forbes (1923), the larva of Caloptilia packardella feeds on sugar maple.

My records to date for Caloptilia packardella (each date representing "the night of") are in the table below: