Moths of North Carolina

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Parapoynx seminealis (Walker, 1859) - Floating-heart Waterlily Moth

Taxonomy

Superfamily:
Pyraloidea

Family:
Crambidae

Subfamily:
Acentropinae

Tribe:
Nymphulini

P3 Number:
80a1322

MONA Number:
4763.00

Comments: The genus Parapoynx contains around 60 described species with a nearly worldwide distribution. Seven species occur in North America, with the center of distribution being eastern North America. North Carolina has four species. The larvae are aquatic feeders and can be recognized by the presence of branched gills on all body segments except the prothorax.

Identification

Field Guide Descriptions:

Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD

Technical Description, Adults: Munroe (1972a)

Technical Description, Immature Stages: Forbes (1910); Buckingham and Bennett (2001)

Adult Markings: This is an easily recognized species that has boldly patterned wings with orange, black, and white barring. The adults are sexually dimorphic, with the males more boldly patterned overall due to differences in forewing patterning. The palps, head, and thorax of both sexes vary from brown to reddish-brown and are concolorous with similar coloration on the forewing. The forewings of the females are more or less uniformly reddish-brown, while those of the males have a series of broad orangish, white, and reddish-brown stripes on the terminal half of the wing. Females sometimes show very faint patterning on the apical half that resembles that of the males. One of the most conspicuous marks on the male forewing is a white bar at around three-fourths the wing length that resembles a hockey stick. Females also have shorter antennae that do not extend to the tip of the abdomen as is the case for the males. The patterning on the hindwings of both sexes is similar and consists of two transverse black stripes on a white ground color, along with a prominent orangish region along the hind margin (Munroe, 1972). The apical half of the hind margin also has three small blackish eyespots with orange centers. Females of P. obscuralis and P. seminealis are similar, but the former has a terminal orange band that extends the entire length of the hind margin, lack eyespots, and has less boldly patterned hindwings.

Forewing Length: 8-13 mm (Munroe, 1972).

Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.

Immatures and Development: The larval life-history when feeding on Floating-heart (Nymphoides) in New York was described by Forbes (1910) and summarized by Munroe (1972). The early larvae are unusual among aquatic crambids in being leaf-miners. Forbes (1910 observed that the early instars formed a trumpet-shaped mine close to the lower surface of the leaf. The third-stage larvae removed the lower epidermis as well as the parenchyma and covered themselves with a fragment of leaf. The fourth and fifth instars lived in a case between the leaf and a leaf-fragment or between two complete leaves and fed on the red undersides of the leaves in a series of bands that formed a very distinctive pattern.

Buckingham and Bennett (2001) provided a detailed life history account of the adults and larvae that use a lake in north-central Florida. Females laid their eggs on the lower surfaces of floating Nymphoides leaves and usually in pits in the arenchyma layer. The clutch sizes averaged 293 eggs in the laboratory, with females first ovipositing the second day after emerging. The hatchlings either bored into and mined floating leaves or dropped on silken threads to submerged leaves. The submerged leaves were much thinner than the floating leaves, and the young larvae often skeletonized these since they were too thin to burrow into. The later instars constructed cases and either fed from the case or out of the case on the margin of the leaf and on the upper surface. Case making involved cutting a piece from the leaf margin then dragging it and attaching it to another part of the leaf. Older larvae sometimes simply attached the overlapping portions of two leaves together, or made portable cases from leaf cut-outs. Pupation occurred in silken cocoons that were made in the leaf case. Air was provided to the cocoon through small elliptical feeding spots in the surface of the leaf that were made before pupation. In the laboratory, the adults emerged after 10-11 days when held at 27°C.

Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from close inspection of specimens or by DNA analysis.

Distribution in North Carolina

Distribution: Parapoynx seminealis is found in the eastern US from New Hampshire and Vermont southward along the Coastal Plain to southern Florida, then westward along the Gulf Coast states to southeastern Texas. As of 2023, all of our records are from the southern Coastal Plain where the species occurs in the Sandhills and in coastal wetlands farther east. The distribution in North Carolina strongly parallels the distribution of the host plant within the state.

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 adults have been observed year-round in Florida and from March through October in Texas and Louisiana. Buckingham and Bennett (2001) noted that there were three, or possibly four, peak adult emergence periods in north-central Florida. The flight season tends to be somewhat shorter for more northern populations. As of 2023, our records extend from mid-April through mid-October. Our limited data suggests that local populations probably producing two broods per year in North Carolina..

Habitats and Life History

Habitats: The larvae are aquatic and depend on wetlands that support the primary host plant, Big Floating-heart.

Larval Host Plants: Big Floating-heart (Nymphoides aquatica) appears to be the primary host throughout the range (Habeck, 1974; Buckingham and Bennett, 2001), but other species of Nymphoides such as Little Floating-heart (N. cordata) could potentially be used, particularly in the Northeast where N. aquatica does not occur. Buckingham and Bennett (2001) noted that the larvae would accept other plants in the laboratory, including Brazilian Waterweed (Egeria densa) and Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) in the Hydrocharitaceae. However, there was no evidence that they used these species in the wild. - View

Observation Methods: The adults are occasionally attracted to lights, but are more commonly seen in vegetated shallows along the margins of wetlands. Information on host use and other aspects of the life history are needed for North Carolina populations.

Wikipedia

See also Habitat Account for Coastal Plain Herbaceous Ponds and Sloughs

Status in North Carolina

Natural Heritage Program Status:

Natural Heritage Program Ranks: [GNR] S3S4

State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.

Comments: Local populations are dependent on Nymphoides aquatica for successful reproduction, which greatly limits their distribution within the state.

Photo Gallery for Parapoynx seminealis - Floating-heart Waterlily Moth

Photos: 21

	Recorded by: Mark Shields, Ed Corey on 2025-09-20 Onslow Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-07-25 Brunswick Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-07-25 Brunswick Co. Comment:		Recorded by: David George, Jeff Niznik, Rob Van Epps, Kevin Metcalf on 2025-07-20 Richmond Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Jim Petranka, Mark Basinger and Becky Elkin on 2025-06-29 Richmond Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Jeff Niznik, David George, Larry Chen, Sarah Toner, Joye Zhou on 2025-06-20 Richmond Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2025-06-02 Brunswick Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2023-04-21 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Vin Stanton on 2022-04-20 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Jim Petranka and Bo Sullivan on 2021-08-10 Richmond Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2021-04-12 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2020-04-28 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2019-10-11 Brunswick Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Rob Van Epps on 2018-09-11 Scotland Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Rob Van Epps on 2018-09-11 Scotland Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Mark Shields on 2018-08-24 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Robert Gilson on 2017-09-16 Richmond Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Robert Gilson on 2017-09-16 Richmond Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Roger Shaw on 2017-06-03 Richmond Co. Comment:		Recorded by: John Petranka on 2016-04-23 Richmond Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Nathan Howell on 2014-06-24 Columbus Co. Comment: