Moths of North Carolina
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Psilocorsis Members:
84 NC Records

Psilocorsis quercicella Clemens, 1860 - Oak Leaftier Moth


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Taxonomy
Superfamily: Gelechioidea Family: DepressariidaeSubfamily: [Amphisbatinae]Tribe: [Amphisbatini]P3 Number: 420259.00 MONA Number: 955.00
Comments: Psilocorsis is a small genus with around 15 described species and several undescribed forms. They range from southeastern Canada to northern South America, but appear to be absent from the West Coast (Hodges, 1974). Seven species occur in North America north of Mexico (Pohl et al., 2016), three of which have been recorded in North Carolina.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Leckie and Beadle (2018)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1923); Clarke (1941); Hodges (1974)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Clemens (1860); Forbes (1923)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following is primarily based on descriptions in Forbes (1923) and Clarke (1941). The head and thorax are dark yellowish brown and the labial palp is slender, strongly recurved, and pointed. The second segment of the labial palp is ochreous with a dark fuscous longitudinal stripe beneath, while the third segment is fuscous with a median and lateral longitudinal whitish stripe. The basal segment of the antenna is dark yellowish brown above with fuscous and white longitudinal stripes beneath. The antenna is yellowish brown above with darker annulations. The ground color of the forewing is also yellowish brown, but mottled with irregular, short, dark brown to blackish striae and elongated blotches. A dark reniform spot is present, and there is usually a more diffuse dark shading that extends from the middle of the wing to the inner margin. In some specimens the shading may extends beyond the middle, but it is less developed on the costal half. A distinctive adterminal line is composed of dark spots that nearly fuse (rarely fusing completely to form a complete line). The cilia are fuscous with a darker sub-basal band, while the hindwing and cilia are pale ochreous-fuscous. The legs are whitish ochreous with the fore tibiae and tarsi shaded with fuscous. The abdomen is yellowish brown above and whitish ochreous beneath. Psilocorsis quercicella and P. cryptolechiella are superficially similar, but P. quercicella lacks the narrow, elongated striations found in P. cryptolechiella. The transverse dark markings of P. quercicella are broken and mostly in the form of small, diffuse, and somewhat elongated blotches of dark scales that dust the forewing. The dark suffusion of the forewing at two-thirds is usually in the form of a diffuse blotch that extends from the middle of the wing to the inner margin. In P. cryptolechiella the region typically extends as a dark, diffuse band or dark dusting across the entire wing. Psilocorsis quercicella is much smaller than P. reflexella and has a darker fringe and more complete set of dark adterminal spots.
Wingspan: 13-16 mm (Clarke, 1941)
Forewing Length: 5.5-7.5 mm (Hodges, 1974)
Adult Structural Features: Clarke (1941) provides detailed descriptions of the male and female genitalia. This species can be distinguished from P. cryptolechiella by the cornuti, which consist of a patch of long spines. In P. cryptolechiella they consist of one long stout cornutus and a patch of very fine ones. In the female of P. quercicella the base of the ductus bursae is uniformly slender and very lightly sclerotized, In P. cryptolechiella it has two discrete sclerotized patches, one at the base and the other distad (Hodges, 1974). The hair pencil from the first abdominal segment of the male is strongly developed in both species (Clarke, 1941).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larvae are leaf skeletonizers that live in a silk and frass nest between tied leaves. The tied leaves often have 1-3 larvae, and the larvae of other species sometimes reside with P. quercicella within the nests (Marquis et al., 2019). In Missouri the larvae occur from May through October and are bivoltine (Carroll and Kearby, 1978). At maturity, they drop to the ground and pupate in dried leaves without spinning a cocoon. Overwintering occurs in the pupal stage. The larvae have a dark, punctate head and three very dark thoracic segments. The body color varies from greenish or yellowish to pinkish-red, and the sides have two rows of small tubercles (Clemens, 1860). Marquis et al. (2019) noted that this is the only species of Psilocorsis in North America with an intensely pigmented thorax.
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Psilocorsis quercicella is found throughout much of the eastern US. and in adjoining areas of southern Canada (Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; Nova Scotia). In the US, the range extends westward to eastern Minnesota, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas, and southward to the Gulf Coast and Florida. As of 2024, our records extend from coastal forests to lower and mid-elevations in the Blue ridge. Populations appear to be far less prevalent in the Coastal Plain than elsewhere in 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)

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