Google
WWW MPG website only

Digital Guide to Moth Identification

Oecophoridae
59a0043 – 1048   Dafa formosella ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
             Beautiful Dafa

© John Lee
Distribution: Canada: ON (BOLD, BugGuide, iNaturalist); USA: MA & NY (BugGuide), NJ (BOLD), IL (iNaturalist) - 11 Oct 2024.
Larva and
Host Plants:
Populus (Poplar) spp.; Hodges (1974) noted, “… specimen from Long Island emerged from beneath the bark of red maple in early July...”
Similar Species:
  • Pinned specimens of related species. (Hint: select View by Region on the related species page.)
Synonymy:
  • formosella [Denis & Schiffermüller] 1775 (Tinea) - MONA 1983: 1048; Type locality: Europe
  • Taxonomic Notes: Dafa formosella ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775), transferred in Hodges (1974) from the genus Callima to Dafa, n. gen., is treated as a member of the genus Epicallima (= Callima) by some authors.

    Hodges (1974) noted NA records only from Long Island, NY and northern NJ, none subsequent to 1940 indicating an introduced species that had died out. One specimen identified by Hodges, USNMENT01451255, collected 11 Oct 1940 from New Bergen, NJ was DNA barcoded, but the DNA was too degraded to place to BIN group. However, the good DNA (465 bp of 658 bp) is a >99.5% match to specimens in BOLD:AAJ0628, a BIN group containing CNCLEP00005859, a specimen collected in 2003 from Toronto, ON identified as formosella. The only other members of that BIN are unidentified specimens from the countries Azerbaijan and Georgia. The BIN is well separated (~5%) from AAJ0629, ABZ5765 and ABZ7271, three narrowly separated BINs containing specimens from Europe, indicating that formosella may be a complex with the Nearctic population representing a cyptic species and "true" formosella restricted to the Palearctic. Since DNA seems to support NA specimens from 1940 and 2003 as the same species from the Caucasus, it would seem that the NA population represents a single introduction event. - Steve Nanz (11 Oct, 2024)
    References
    • Barcode of Life (BOLD) - Caution: DNA barcode provides evidence of relatedness, not proof of identification, and some BOLD specimens shown may not be sequenced.
    • Barcode of Life (BOLD) - BIN: BOLD:AAJ0628 (NA & Caucasia) - Caution: DNA barcode provides evidence of relatedness, not proof of identification.
    • Barcode of Life (BOLD) - BIN: BOLD:AAJ0629 - Caution: DNA barcode provides evidence of relatedness, not proof of identification.
    • Denis & Schiffermuller, 1775. Ankündung eines systematischen Werkes von den Schmetterlingen der Wienergegend, p. 140.
    • Hodges, R. W., 1974. Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 6.2, p. 112; pl. 7.13. order or free PDF
    • Species Page at BugGuide.Net
    Dafa formosella
    © Dave Beadle

    Moth Photographers Group  at the  Mississippi Entomological Museum  at the  Mississippi State University

    Send suggestions, or submit photographs to Webmaster — Moth Photographers Group

    Database design and scripting support provided by Mike Boone