Moths of North Carolina
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View PDFUnassigned Apoditrysia Members: Cycloplasis Members: 3 NC Records

Cycloplasis panicifoliella Clemens, 1864 - No Common Name

Cycloplasis panicifoliellaCycloplasis panicifoliella
view caption
Taxonomy
Family:
Unassigned Apoditrysia		P3 Number:
38a0001		 MONA Number:
2493.00
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Forbes (1923)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Eiseman (2022)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: This is a small, but distinctive micromoth that has brownish forewings with a violet sheen and a single silvery fascia at around one-third the wing length. The adults characteristically rest with the hindlimbs raised. The following is based on the description by Forbes (1923). The head and thorax are lead-colored, while the antenna is brown with silver towards the base. The forewing is umber brown with a more or less violet sheen, and has a broad, straight, bright silvery fascia at about one-third the wing length. The apical half of the forewing is often faintly suffused with silver, especially towards the costa. The forewing fringe and hindwing are violet brown, while the hindwing fringe is fuscous. The hindlegs have prominent whorls of elongated spines and are held up and out when an individual is resting. This species is very similar to Cycloplasis immaculata, but the latter lacks the silvery band on the basal third of the forewing.
Immatures and Development: The larvae commonly mine the leaves of deer-tongue grasses (Dicanthelium spp.). They initially produce a long, threadlike, linear track that runs from the base towards the tip. This eventually expands into an irregular, flat upperside blotch. When the larva finishes feeding, it cuts a circular piece from the upper wall of the mine that is 3–4 mm in diameter and folds it in half. It then binds the edges with silk on the inside to create a semicircular pupal chamber (Microleps.org; Eiseman, 2022). The larva eventually drops to the ground and attaches the case to a nearby object. Eiseman (2022) noted that the larvae sometimes pupate within their mines, without making a circular cut-out, and in one such instance the mine was entirely linear.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: The range is poorly documented, but likely includes a large portion of the eastern US and adjoining areas of Ontario. Scattered records from the eastern US extend from New York, Massachusetts and Vermont southward to Florida, and westward to Texas, Arkansas and Illinois. As of 2024, we have only two site records and both are from the eastern Piedmont.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Cycloplasis panicifoliellaAlamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New%20Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge 		Image showing flight dates by month for High Mountains greater than 4,000 feet, Low Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain: adults.
Immature Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge 		Image showing flight dates by month for High Mountains greater than 4,000 feet, Low Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain: immatures.
Flight Comments: Local populations in the north appear to produce two broods per year, with larvae first present in June and early-July, then gain in late-summer (Forbes, 1923; Eiseman, 2022; Microleps.org). Larvae have been found in January in Florida. As of 2024, our one record of an occupied mine is from June.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats:
Larval Host Plants: Larvae feed on grasses, including species of Dichanthelium and Lasiacis that are both in tribe Paniceae (Robinson et al., 2010; Eiseman, 2022; Feldman, 2022). The known host include Deer-tongue Witchgrass (Dichanthelium clandestinum) and Variable Witchgrass (Dichanthelium commutatum) (Eiseman, 2023). In North Carolina, a larva has been reared from Variable Witchgrass. - View
Wikipedia
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR S2S4
State Protection:
Comments:

 Photo Gallery for Cycloplasis panicifoliella - None

Photos: 4
Cycloplasis panicifoliellaRecorded by: Tracy S. Feldman on 2022-06-13
Durham Co.
Comment: A linear mine widening into a blotch, with a circular window cut out where the miner used the circle of leaf surface to pupate in a folded semicircle.		Cycloplasis panicifoliellaRecorded by: Tracy S. Feldman on 2022-06-13
Durham Co.
Comment:
Cycloplasis panicifoliellaRecorded by: Tracy S. Feldman on 2022-06-13
Durham Co.
Comment: 		Cycloplasis panicifoliellaRecorded by: Tracy S. Feldman on 2022-06-03
Durham Co.
Comment: Linear mines (young/early mines) on Dichanthelium commutatum--becomes a blotch mine later on (starting to form in upper left part of the leaf in the photo).