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Digital Guide to Moth Identification

Euteliidae
931107 – 8959   Paectes pygmaea Hübner, 1818
             Pygmy Paectes

- © Carol Wolf
Distribution: MA south to FL and west to MI and eastern TX - Metzler & Franclemont (1991).
Description/
Field Marks:
WS = 19-24 mm, "... dark hindwing with contrasting white fringe." - Metzler & Franclemont (1991).
Genitalia: See Metzler & Franclemont (1991).
Similar Species:
  • Paectes abrostolella averages larger with fringe of the hindwing gray or only partially white - Metzler & Franclemont (1991). The barcode tree for pygmaea and abrostolella includes at least four Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) or branches each possibly representing a good species.
  • Pinned specimens of related species. (Hint: select View by Region on the related species page.)
Synonymy:
  • pygmaea Hübner 1818 (Paectes) - MONA 1983: 8959; Type locality: "Aus Georgien in Florida."
  • flabella Grote 1879 (Ingura); Type locality: Kansas
  • Taxonomic Notes: Paectes pygmaea Hübner, 1818 includes as a synonym 8958 Paectes flabella (Grote 1879) in Metzler & Franclemont (1991), Jour. Lepid. Soc., 45(1): 34-41.
    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.
    • Hübner, J., 1818. Erstes Hundert. Zuträge zur Sammlung exotischer Schmettlinge, [1]: 21; pl. 19, figs. 109, 110.
    • Metzler, E.H. & J.G. Franclemont, 1991. A review of four species names of Paectes from North America (Noctuidae: Euteliinae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 45(1): 34-41.
    • Species Page at BugGuide.Net
    • Species Page at Mass Moths
    Paectes pygmaea
    - © Ken Childs
    Paectes pygmaea
    - © Ken Childs
    Paectes pygmaea
    - © Tom Murray
    Paectes pygmaea
    21mm – © Jim Vargo
    Paectes pygmaea
    © George Smiley LG
    on Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum)

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