The Coyote Brush Borer Plume Moth (Hellinsia grandis) is a moth

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 California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

).

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 about 34 mm. The head, palpi, antennae, thorax and abdomen are of nearly a uniform pale brownish-ochreous colour. The legs are brownish ochreous. The forewings are pale brownish ochreous, in some species with a few scattered faint brownish dots on the second lobe. The fringes are slightly darker. The hindwings are very slightly browner than forewings, with the fringes still darker.

The larvae feed on Baccharis pilularis

Baccharis pilularis

Baccharis pilularis, called Coyote Brush , Chaparral Broom, and Bush Baccharis, is a shrub in the Asteraceae that grows in California, Oregon, and Baja California.-Description:...

. They bore into the stem of their host plant.