Moths of North Carolina
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Crambidia Members:
1 NC Records

Crambidia casta (Packard, 1869) - Pearly-winged Lichen Moth

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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: ErebidaeSubfamily: ArctiinaeTribe: LithosiiniP3 Number: 930225.00 MONA Number: 8051.00
Comments: One of eleven named species in this genus that occur in North America north of Mexico (Lafontaine and Schmidt, 2010, 2015), of which six been recorded in North Carolina (several others are still undescribed)
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Beadle and Leckie (2012)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1960)Technical Description, Immature Stages: (None)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Pure white above, including its head, but grayish on the undersides of the wings (except along the costa) and on the legs and underside of the abdomen (Forbes, 1960). Larger than the other white Crambidias, with a wingspan over 30 mm (Forbes, 1960). Crambidia pura is also pure white but is smaller than casta: the wingspan is less than 30 mm, typically 22-25 mm (Forbes, 1960); in North Carolina, the ranges of these two species also appear to be completely separate. Crambidia xanthocarpa is also nearly all white but have their heads more-or-less shaded with yellow. Specimens provide more reliable than photos as a means of identification; worn or otherwise difficult-to-identify males may be identifiable by dissection using illustrations given in Forbes (provided they actually correspond to the named species).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable only by close inspection of structural features or by DNA analysis.
Immatures and Development: Descriptions of the larvae are apparently unavailable.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Probably restricted to 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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