Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFNepticulidae Members:
Zimmermannia Members:
17 NC Records

Zimmermannia bosquella (Chambers, 1878) - No Common Name

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Nepticuloidea Family: NepticulidaeP3 Number: 160078.00 MONA Number: 55.00
Comments: Zimmermannia is a genus that contains 17 currently recognized species, many of which were previously placed in the closely related genus Ectoedemia. Five species are currently recognized in the Nearctic region. In their revised classification and catalogue of global Nepticulidae, Nieukerken et al. (2016) recognized Z. bosquella as a new combination that involved treating three previously recognized species as synonyms. These are Ectoedemia castaneae Busck, 1913, E. heinrichi Busck, 1914, and E. helenella Wilkinson, 1981.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Busck, 1914; Braun, 1917Technical Description, Immature Stages: Busck, 1914; Eiseman, 2019                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The palps are pale ocherous, and the face, head and tufts black. The antenna is dark fuscous with narrow pale annulations. The eye-caps are creamy-white. The thorax is pale ocherous to light tan with a few blackish scales. The ground color of the forewing is also pale ocherous to light tan and densely dusted with blackish fuscous scales which tend to form patches. The blackish scales are typically reduced near the extreme base of the wing, near the basal third, and near the apical third. This produces two poorly defined transverse fascia, one at the basal third, the other at the apical third, on which the dark dusting is absent or scattered. The second fascia is less distinct and is sometimes almost obliterated by scattered dusting (Braun, 1917). The cilia are pale ocherous, with a row of dark-tipped scales around the base. The hindwing and cilia are fuscous. The legs are ocherous. Z. bosquella is distinctive in having a black head and tuft. It also usually has the dark dusting organized as two or three patches on the forewing. The other two Zimmermannia that might occur in NC (phleophaga; obrutella) have ocherous tufts and more scattered dusting.
Wingspan: 9-10 mm (Busck, 1914)
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larva forms a characteristic spiral mine in the bark of young branches of oaks. The mine is a narrow linear track that is closely coiled in a flattened oval spiral that resembles a watch spring (Busck, 1914). The bark of old mines cracks and often breaks away entirely. This leaves the inner bark exposed and produces scars which persist for a number of years (Busck, 1914; Braun, 1917; Eiseman, 2019). The larvae are found chiefly on young saplings, but also mine the outer branches of trees. In Virginia, the mature larva exits the mine in autumn and drops to the ground, where it pupates in a reddish-brown cocoon that is about 3–4 mm by 2–2.5 mm (Busck, 1914). The adults emerge in May and June of the following year.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: virginia, ohio, kentucky
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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