Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFUnassigned Apoditrysia Members:
Cycloplasis Members:
1 NC Records

Cycloplasis immaculata Braun, 1940 - No Common Name

Cycloplasis immaculataCycloplasis immaculata
Taxonomy
Family: Unassigned ApoditrysiaP3 Number: 38a0002 MONA Number: 2493.10
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Braun (1940)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Braun, 1940; Eiseman, 2023                                                                                 
Adult Markings: This is a rather nondescript micromoth with metallic purplish-black to dark-brown coloration. The following is based on the original description by Braun (1940). The head is metallic blackish purple, but more golden on the lower part of face. The third segment of the labial palp is very short and black, while the vertex is a little paler. The antenna is purplish black, and a collar of contrasting, raised black scales is present just behind the head. The thorax is metallic and paler and more lustrous than the head. The forewing is lustrous, unmarked, and nearly black at the base. From there it shades through dark fuscous with a faint purplish luster to deep blue in the apical third. The fringe is blackish, and the hindwings and fringe are dark gray. The legs are blackish purple, with the femora of the middle and hind pair silvery gray. The hind legs have prominent whorls of elongated spines and are held up and out when an individual is resting. The abdomen is dark purple fuscous above and silvery gray below. This species is very similar to Cycloplasis panicifoliella, but the latter has a silvery band on the basal third of the forewing versus the unmarked wing of C. immaculata.
Wingspan: 5.5 mm (Braun, 1940).
Immatures and Development: The larvae are leafminers of grasses, but there are only a few observations of the mines. Braun (1940) reported that the larval and pupal habits are identical with those of C. panicifoliella and noted that the mine was first shaped in a gradually enlarging trumpet that later enlarged into a somewhat irregular blotch. At the end of the feeding period the larva cut out a circular piece of the upper epidermis, then folds it over to form a pupal chamber. Eiseman (2023) noted that a specimen that he reared from North Carolina cut its pupal chamber from the lower epidermis, while Mike Palmer reared specimens from Oklahoma that pupated within their mines. Braun (1940) made no mention of an initial long, narrow, linear portion that is typical of both C. panicifoliella and C.immaculata (Eiseman, 2023).




Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: This seemingly rare species is currently only known from Oklahoma and one site in North Carolina.
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)

Click on graph to enlarge
Flight Comments: The flight period is poorly documented. As of 2024, we have one record of an occupied mine from early-May.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats:
Larval Host Plants: This species reportedly feeds on Dichanthelium oligosanthes and probably other Dichanthelium species (Eiseman, 2023). - View
Observation Methods: New locality records are best obtained by search for leaf mines and rearing the adults.
Wikipedia
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR[SU]
State Protection:
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 Photo Gallery for Cycloplasis immaculata - No Common Name

Photos: 2

Recorded by: Tracy Feldman on 2017-05-02
Scotland Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: Tracy Feldman on 2017-05-02
Scotland Co.
Comment: