Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFSchreckensteiniidae Members: Schreckensteinia Members: 9 NC Records

Schreckensteinia festaliella Hübner, 1818 - Blackberry Skeletonizer Moth

Schreckensteinia festaliellaSchreckensteinia festaliellaSchreckensteinia festaliellaSchreckensteinia festaliella
Taxonomy
Superfamily:
Schreckensteinioidea		 Family:
Schreckensteiniidae		Subfamily:
[Schreckensteiniinae]		Tribe:
[Schreckensteiniini]		P3 Number:
43a0003		 MONA Number:
2509.00		 Other Common Name:
Bramble False-feather
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Schreckensteinia festaliella is a small moth that has a long, narrow wing and a hindlimb with two pairs of prominent, elongated spines. One or both legs are elevated nearly perpendicular to the body when an individual is resting. The head and thorax have a metallic bronzy-brown hue, while the antenna is brown. The forewing ground color varies from light olivaceous-brown to medium-brown and has a slight golden iridescence. The wing is marked with two dark-brown longitudinal streaks. The streaks begin near the wing base and gradually slant towards the inner margin and center of the wing to about three-fifths the wing length from the base, then curve gently towards the apex. The streak that is closer to the costa often has a diffuse dark spot or area with heavy dark dusting at around three-fifths. The costa and base of the wing are also suffused with dark-brown coloration. Specimens in North Carolina that have a light ground color have the streaks well demarcated, but the streaks are often masked to varying degrees in darker specimens. The hindwing is more-or-less concolorous with the forewing, and the hindlimbs have prominent, bristle-like spines. Schreckensteinia festaliella resembles S. erythriella, but the latter lacks the longitudinal streaks in the forewing.
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larvae skeletonize the leaves of blackberries and raspberries and often produce small patchworks of skeletonized tissue. The larva spins a wide meshwork cocoon prior to pupating.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from close inspection of specimens or by DNA analysis.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution:
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Schreckensteinia festaliellaAlamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
Flight Dates:
High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
Piedmont (Pd)
Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge 		Image showing flight dates by month for High Mountains greater than 4,000 feet, Low Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain: adults.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats:
Larval Host Plants: Larvae feed on blackberries and raspberries (Rubus spp.) (Forbes, 1923; Schaffner, 1959; Ferguson, 1975; Pohl et al., 2005; Robinson et al., 2023). In North Carolina, there is a BugGuide record (J. Anderson, 2011) of a cocoon on the non-native species Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). - View
Wikipedia
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks:
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.
Comments:

 Photo Gallery for Schreckensteinia festaliella - Blackberry Skeletonizer Moth

Photos: 7
Schreckensteinia festaliella
iNaturalist		Recorded by: seldomseen - Merrill Lynch on 2025-08-05
Watauga Co.
Comment: iNat record - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/303944536***(c) Merrill Lynch, all rights reserved| Public Positional Accuracy=55 m Elevation=3344.1 feet		Schreckensteinia festaliella
Recorded by: Jeff Niznik on 2024-07-15
Wilkes Co.
Comment:
Schreckensteinia festaliella
iNaturalist		Recorded by: mfawver - Melinda Fawver on 2023-08-20
Swain Co.
Comment: iNat record - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179447199***(c) Melinda Fawver, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)| Public Positional Accuracy=15 m Elevation=6566 feet		Schreckensteinia festaliella
Recorded by: Vin Stanton on 2021-05-21
Buncombe Co.
Comment:
Schreckensteinia festaliella
Recorded by: Vin Stanton on 2020-06-29
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Schreckensteinia festaliella
Recorded by: Jim Petranka and Becky Elkin on 2019-07-24
Madison Co.
Comment:
Schreckensteinia festaliella
Recorded by: Kyle Kittelberger, Paul Scharf, Brian Bockhahn on 2015-06-17
Caldwell Co.
Comment:

Photos of Schreckensteinia festaliella from iNaturalist

Schreckensteinia festaliella
© seldomseen - Merrill Lynch - 2025-08-05 - Watauga Co.
iNat record 		Schreckensteinia festaliella
© mfawver - Melinda Fawver - 2023-08-20 - Swain Co.
iNat record