Moths of North Carolina
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30 NC Records

Crambus satrapellus (Zincken, 1821) - No Common Name

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Pyraloidea Family: CrambidaeSubfamily: CrambinaeTribe: CrambiniP3 Number: 800960.00 MONA Number: 5372.00
Comments: The genus Crambus includes around 155 species that are distributed globally. Some of the species are significant pests that can cause damage to agricultural crops, lawns and rangelands. This is one of 41 species in this genus that occur in North America north of Mexico (Pohl and Nanz, 2023), and one of fifteen species that occur in North Carolina.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Fernald (1896)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: This is one of the more distinctive silver-striped species of Crambus. The palps and the head vary from yellowish gray to gray, and the thorax and ground color of the forewings is golden yellow, with the area along the costa darker than the remainder of the ground color (Fernald, 1896). The silvery white stripe on the forewing gradually widens from the wing base to around four-fifths the wing length, then narrows to a sharp point at the subterminal line. A prominent tooth extends off of the dorsal margin about mid-way along its length and tapers to a fine point as it projects towards the anal angle. A separate spindle-shaped white spot is present between the costa and the tapered tip of the white stripe at around four-fifths the wing length. The apex has a short white streak. The post terminal line runs from the costa towards the outer margin, then angles back to run more or less parallel to the outer margin to the sub-tornal region. The area between it and the dark-brown terminal line is pale gray with darker reddish-brown striations, and has four or five black dashes that are on the dorsal two-thirds of the wing. The fringe is dull gray, and the hindwing is pale ashy gray with a slightly lighter fringe. This species is easily distinguished by the long, slender tooth that comes off of the white stripe, and the spindle-shaped white spot near the tip of the stripe.
Wingspan: 25-35 mm (Fernald, 1896).
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: Crambus satrapellus is found in the eastern U.S. as two isolated groups. The first is in the Great Lakes region in southern Michigan and northern Ohio, and the second centered in the Southeast from New York and New Jersey southward to southern Florida, then westward along the Gulf Coast region to southeastern Texas. There also are scattered records in Arkansas, Kentucky, western Tennessee and northern Alabama. As of 2023, all but one of our records (Mecklenburg Co.) is from the southern Coastal Plain, including the Sandhills and maritime and coastal sites.
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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