Hellinsia phoebus 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 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...

 and Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

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 21-23 mm. The head is brown with a whitish band between the antennae. The antennae are faintly brown-dotted above. The thorax is whitish in front, becoming tawny to brownish behind. The forewings are whitish to light tawny brown. The costa is whitish toward base, sprinkled with blackish scales. The cleft is preceded by a faint dark dot. There usually are some scattered black scales on the entire wing, although they are less numerous on the disk and tend to form streaks in the lobes and near the inner margin. The fringes are pale on the costa, elsewhere brownish grey to brownish black. The hindwings are brownish grey
with concolorous or slightly darker fringes.

Adults have been recorded in March to July.