Moths of North Carolina
Scientific Name:
Common Name:
 Family (Alpha):
« »
View PDFErebidae Members:
Clemensia Members:
681 NC Records

Clemensia albata Packard, 1864 - Little White Lichen Moth

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: ErebidaeSubfamily: ArctiinaeTribe: LithosiiniP3 Number: 930215.00 MONA Number: 8098.00
Comments: One of three species in this genus that occur in North America (Lafontaine and Schmidt, 2010). All three are found in North Carolina.
Species Status: All three North American species have been bar-coded and are distinct (Schmidt and Sullivan, 2018)
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Beadle and Leckie (2012)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1960); Schmidt and Sullivan (2018)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Wagner (2005)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Small with relatively broad wings; white or dingy yellow ground color on the forewings mottled with darker gray or brown, usually with a prominent dark reniform spot. Fairly easy to recognize over most of its range but can be confused with Clemensia umbrata in the Mountans and C. ochreata in the Coastal Plain; some of the Nolidae are also similar in size and overall color but usually lack the dark reniform seen in albata.
Forewing Length: 10.8 mm, males; 10.77 mm, average (Schmidt and Sullivan, 2018)
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: Larvae are greenish with dark mottling, a pale mid-dorsal stripe, and sparse setae (from illustration in Wagner, 2005).
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Found throughout the state
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