Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

16 June 2004   10:53PM EST  (top left)
18 June 2004   10:19PM EST  (top right)
10 June 2005   9:34PM EST  (bottom)

My thanks to Dr. Jean-François Landry of Agriculture Canada for identifying the two specimens illustrated in the top photos above.  For subsequent identifications, I have also relied on Hodges, R.W., Gelechioidea: Gelechiidae (in part) in Dominick, R.B. et al., The Moths of North America North of Mexico, Fascicle 7.1 (Washington: The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation, 1986).

Dichomeris punctidiscella has a pale yellowish gray forewing, somewhat unevenly colored.  The several sets of spots generally appear grayish in the photos above, but Hodges notes that the spots may be tinged with orange.  A slightly curved, somewhat diffuse line crosses the wing from apex to anal angle, slightly darker gray in color but paler along its inner edge.  Along the outer margin there is a row of grayish dots.  The fringe is the same color as the ground color of the wing.  Hodges (1986) indicates a wing length from 5.5 to 7.6 mm.  Given the many similarities among different species of Dichomeris, this species can at best only be tentatively identified from photographs.

According to Hodges, little is known about the immature stages of Dichomeris punctidiscella; he notes that adults are present in late spring and early summer.

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