Moths of North Carolina
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10 NC Records

Cisthene tenuifascia Harvey, 1875 - Thin-banded Lichen Moth

Cisthene tenuifascia
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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: ErebidaeSubfamily: ArctiinaeTribe: LithosiiniP3 Number: 930183 MONA Number: 8066.00
Comments: One of twenty species in this genus that occur in North America, five of which have been recorded in North Carolina
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984)Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1960)Technical Description, Immature Stages: (None)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Blackish brown with an orange line along the inner margin that strongly narrows before it reaches a similar line that crosses the postmedian area of the forewing; hindwing is mainly pink with a dark apex; males have a well-developed lobe at the anal margin of the hindwing that is missing in other members of this genus (Forbes, 1960). Similar to C. kentuckiensis but the line along the inner margin in that species is confluent with postmedian band.
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: Descriptions of the larvae are apparently unavailable.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Records exist only from the eastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain
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: Too few records exist to determine a pattern, but there may be either two flights or one extended flight from late spring to the fall.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats: No information is available on the habitats at sites where collections were made
Larval Host Plants: Like most Lithosiines, probably feeds on lichens, bark algae, and Cyanobacteria (Covell, 1984; Wagner, 2005). - View
Observation Methods: Labels for most of the NCSU specimens do not contain any information about collecting methods, although there are at least a couple that state that light traps were used, although no details about the light sources were given.
Wikipedia
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status: [W3]
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: G5 [S2S3]
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands; should be placed on the NHP Watchlist
Comments: This species was previously collected in North Carolina from a number of sites in the eastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain. It was not captured, however, in any of the intensive surveys we have conducted in those regions since the early 1990s, nor in surveys conducted elsewhere in the state. This species may have always been rare in our area, at least compared to the Midwest, where it can be common, but the reasons for the lack of recent records are completely unknown.

 Photo Gallery for Cisthene tenuifascia - Thin-banded Lichen Moth

Photos: 1

Recorded by: Unknown on 1955-09-30
Duplin Co.
Comment: NCSU Insect Museum specimen