Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

19 August 2004   1:13AM EST  (top)
14 June 2003   9:13PM EST  (bottom)

Costaconvexa centrostrigaria, formerly known as Orthonama centrostrigaria, has also been termed the Bent-Line Carpet (Covell, 1984).  Covell notes that the male and female of this species have different appearances, and according to his description, the specimen in the top photo is male, and the specimen in the bottom photo is female.

Costaconvexa centrostrigaria has pale gray forewings with many cross-lines and bands of color in a pattern characteristic of many of the Larentiinae or so-called carpet moths (so called, I suspect, because the pattern of lines and bands is reminiscent of the border patterns of some oriental carpets).  The basal area is light reddish brown followed by a band of pale gray with white lines.  The next line is brown to very dark brown, darkest in the lower half of the wing towards the inner margin.  This brown line is followed by a gray band in the median, very pale gray in the male, much darker gray-brown in the female, with a small black discal dot.  Outside this gray band, there is another wider band of brown comprising several cross lines.  In the female, the brown color is fairly even from costa to inner margin, with just a little darkening near its outer edge near the costa.  In the male, however, this brown band is evident only in the upper (costal) half of the wing, and its outer edge is very dark brown from the costa to the mid-point of the wing.  A somewhat diffuse apical patch is distinctly brown inside the subterminal line, and more gray closer to the apex.  There are diffuse dark blotches in the subterminal area near the mid-point of the outer margin and near the anal angle.  The pale gray hindwing exhibits a similar pattern of lines, but without the more intensive color banding visible on the forewing.  The thorax and abdomen also appear cross-striped, with the stripes aligning and concolorous with the color bands and lines of the forewing.  Covell indicates a wingspan of 1.7 to 2.3 cm.

According to Handfield (1999) and Covell, the larvae of Costaconvexa centrostrigaria feed on knotweed or smartweed species. Handfield indicates two generations per year (the second generation a partial generation) for my general area, with adult flight seasons from late May to early August, and from mid-August to mid-October.

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