Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFGelechiidae Members:
Taygete Members:
119 NC Records

Taygete attributella (Walker, 1864) - No Common Name

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Gelechioidea Family: GelechiidaeSubfamily: GelechiinaeTribe: GelechiiniP3 Number: 420009.00 MONA Number: 1842.00
Comments: Taygete is a small genus 18 species that are mostly found in the neotropics and the western and southwestern US.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Leckie and Beadle (2018)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1923)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following is based primarily on the descriptions by Chambers (1872) and Forbes (1923). The head and thorax are fuscous and rather heavily scaled, while the antenna are dark brown, rather stout, and slightly more than half the length of the forewing. The labial palp has two slender black annuli on the terminal joint. The forewing ground color is pearly white to dirty white with dark brown marks. These include a large costal spot at the wing base, a second large costal spot just beyond one-half, and a smaller one between these two. In addition, there are two or three less intense dots closer to the inner margin and between second costal mark and the PM area. These and the second costal mark are often partially margined with light tan scales. The apex is lightly spotted with fuscous, and the cilia are pale fuscous. The hindwing and fringe are grayish brown. The legs are dark brown to blackish above with a few narrow whitish annuli. Taygete gallaegenitella is similar but has a different spot pattern along the costa.
Wingspan: 10 mm (Forbes, 1923)
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larval life history is undocumented.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Taygete attributella is found in eastern North America from the New England states and adjoining areas of southern Canada (Ontario; Quebec southward to northern Florida and the Gulf States, and westward to central Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Minnesota. A few scattered records are from farther west in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. Populations are absent or rare in much of the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Virginia to Georgia. As of 2024, nearly all of our records are from the Piedmont and lower elevations in the mountains, with a few records from higher elevations and a single record from the Sandhills.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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