Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

30 March 2004   8:07PM EST  (left)
5 May 2003   7:57PM EST  (right)

My identification of this species was initially based on Hodges, R.W., The Moths of North America North of Mexico, Fascicle 6.2, Gelechioidea Oecophoridae (London: E.W. Classey, 1974).  My thanks to Dr. J.-F. Landry of Agriculture Canada for confirming my identification of several specimens.

Agonopterix pulvipennella has a light tan forewing mottled to varying degrees with dark brown and gray-brown scale.  How pale or dark the moth appears depends on the amount of mottling; the specimens illustrated above both tend towards the paler end of the color range for the species.  There is a pronounced dark brown blotch at about the middle of the wing, on the lower edge of which a white dot is usually evident.  The wing is usually paler along the length of the inner margin, and in a band along the outer margin.  The terminal line shows as a series of gray-brown dots preceding the pinkish brown fringe.  The hindwing is pale, washed with grayish brown.  Hodges (1974) states the wing length ranges from 8.0 to 10.5 mm.

According to Hodges (1974), the larvae of Agonopterix pulvipennella feed on the leaves of goldenrod and nettle. He states that the adults emerge in August and September and may live until the following April and May.  The moths observed in early spring, therefore, have overwintered as adults.

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