Hellinsia elliottii
Encyclopedia
Hellinsia elliottii is a moth
of the Pterophoridae family. It is found in North America
, including Mississippi
, New York
, Iowa
, Quebec, Alberta
and Ontario
.
The wingspan
is 21-26 mm. The head is very pale fuscous and the thorax and abdomen are whitish fuscous. The legs are white. The forewings are white, tinged with ochre yellow near the base and on the apical third of the costa. There is a very oblique streak of brown scales on the costa near the apex and a dark-brown spot before the fissure. A streak of irregular brown scales extends from the base of the wing to the fissure. The fringes are white. The hindwings are pure white, with a few ochre yellow scales scattered over the surface in some specimens.
The larvae are light green with long, white, shiny hairs from the tubercles. Except on the prothorax, there is a distinct creamy dorsal line broken in the centre of each segment by a small, round dot of the ground color. Pupation takes place in a green pupa with pale ochreous markings.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Pterophoridae family. It is found in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, including Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Quebec, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 21-26 mm. The head is very pale fuscous and the thorax and abdomen are whitish fuscous. The legs are white. The forewings are white, tinged with ochre yellow near the base and on the apical third of the costa. There is a very oblique streak of brown scales on the costa near the apex and a dark-brown spot before the fissure. A streak of irregular brown scales extends from the base of the wing to the fissure. The fringes are white. The hindwings are pure white, with a few ochre yellow scales scattered over the surface in some specimens.
The larvae are light green with long, white, shiny hairs from the tubercles. Except on the prothorax, there is a distinct creamy dorsal line broken in the centre of each segment by a small, round dot of the ground color. Pupation takes place in a green pupa with pale ochreous markings.