Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFNepticulidae Members:
Ectoedemia Members:
3 NC Records

Ectoedemia quadrinotata (Braun, 1917) - No Common Name


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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Nepticuloidea Family: NepticulidaeP3 Number: 160087.00 MONA Number: 51.00
Comments: This genus includes 15 Nearctic species of very small, leaf-mining moths.
Species Status: Ectoedemia quadrinotata is a member of the rubifoliella group of Wilkinson and Noble (1981) that includes two other species, E. rubifoliella and E. ulmella.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Braun, 1917; Wilkinson and Scoble, 1979. Technical Description, Immature Stages: Braun, 1917.                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following description of the adults is based on Braun (1917) and Wilkinson and Scoble (1979). The head and tufts are dark brown, and the palps are gray-brown with a gray luster. The eye-cap is silvery white and the antenna is dark grayish brown and paler at the tip. The collar is grayish brown. The thorax, abdomen, and forewings are dark brown to grayish brown, and the forewing has four silvery white marks. These consists of an elongate spot at the base of the dorsum, a small spot on the costa before the middle, a larger triangular spot at the tornus, and a similar spot on the costa nearer the apex. The cilia vary from brown to gray, with silvery tips around the apex. The hindwings and cilia are brown, and the legs are gray with buff patches. This species somewhat resembles E. trinotata, but has four silvery white marks on the forewing instead of three, including two antemedial spots in E. quadrinotata versus only one in E. trinotata. These species also differ in host plants and genitalia.
Wingspan: 4.0-5.2 mm for males; 4.0-5.0 mm for females (Wilkinson and Scoble, 1979)
Adult Structural Features: The following description of the genitalia is from Wilkinson and Scoble (1979). Males: The tegumen is bluntly extended into a short tuberculate pseuduncus, and the saccus is weakly bilobed. The gnathos comprises a pair of stout lateral horns that are fused at the bases to form a very thick, short projection. The valves reach beyond the pseuduncus, and are curved apically and taper to blunt
points. The transtilla has lateral bars that extend into long projections anteriorly. The aedeagus is long, and slightly narrows anteriorly. It has a crown of thorn-like spines that are surrounded by longer spines and processes, and that comprise the anellar projections. Females: The anal papillae are elongate, and the ductus bursae extends beyond the apophyses, with the colliculum lacking the associated denticulate pocket. The bursa copulatrix is covered with pectinations, and the signa is elongate. The anterior apophyses are broad, arcuate, and fused to form a basal bar. The posterior apophyses are sinuous, broadened basally, and appear to arise from the basal plate. The males of E. quadrinotata can be readily distinguished from other members of Ectoedemia by their tuberculate pseuduncus and the elaborate anellar processes. The female genitalia resemble those of E. rubifoliella, E. ulmella and E. nyssaefoliella but differ by having a weakly sclerotized colliculum. The long anal papillae of the female differentiate this species from all other Ectoedemia (Wilkinson and Scoble, 1979).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larvae are very pale green with a brighter green line of ingested food. Braun (1917) noted that the mine begins as a very fine linear track for the first four centimeters or so, and usually closely follows the midrib or one of the lateral veins. It may double back for a short distance before expanding into an irregular brownish blotch which often occupies the entire space between lateral veins. The blotch often obliterates the earlier linear track. The frass is dark, and initially appears as a broken line in the linear track. It becoming less compact and more diffuse as the blotch expands. The mature larvae eventually exits the mine and spins a brownish cocoon that often has an olive green tint (Braun, 1917). Eiseman (2019) observed mines that widened towards the end, but hardly qualified as forming a blotch.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Ectoedemia quadrinotata occurs in Canada from Manitoba eastward to New Brunswick. In the US it has been observed from Ohio eastward to Massachusetts, and southward to Arkansas and North Carolina. As of 2020, we have records from both the Piedmont and at high elevations in the mountains.
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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