Oidaematophorus occidentalis 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 from 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 British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 to 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...

 and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

.

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 26-29 mm. The species is extremely variable, but can be generally described as follows. The head, thorax and abdomen are creamy white to dull tawny-brown, the head with a pale patch between the antennae. The forewings are the same colour as the thorax, normally with a heavy brown costal mark over the base of the cleft, preceded and followed by a few whitish scales. This patch is connected with a small brown triangular shade before the cleft. The wing is marked with cloudy brown areas and the first lobe is light brown, but these areas are not conspicuously powdery, due to the lack of contrast between the brown scales and tawny ground colour. The fringes are tawny-grey. The hindwings are brownish and shining, with paler fringes.

The larvae feed on Aster

Aster

Aster may refer to:* Aster , a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae* Callistephus, another genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called Aster or Chinese Aster...

, Grindelia

Grindelia

Grindelia is a genus of plants native to the Americas belonging to the family Asteraceae, . G. squarrosa, a plant with bright yellow flowers indigenous to much of the United States, is commonly called curlycup gumweed. G. robusta, found in the western states, is a coastal scrub bush that is...

and Helianthus

Helianthus

Helianthus L. is a genus of plants comprising 52 species in the Asteraceae family, all of which are native to North America, with some species Helianthus L. is a genus of plants comprising 52 species in the Asteraceae family, all of which are native to North America, with some species Helianthus...

species.