Moths of North Carolina
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4 NC Records

Eucosma rusticana Kearfott, 1905 - No Common Name

No image for this species.
Taxonomy
Superfamily: Tortricoidea Family: TortricidaeSubfamily: OlethreutinaeTribe: EucosminiP3 Number: 620749.00 MONA Number: 3125.00
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Kearfott (1905a); Wright and Gilligan (2015)                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The following is based primarily on the description by Kearfott (1905a) and Wright (2006). The head, palps, and thorax vary from dark brown to blackish brown. The forewing has a somewhat two-toned appearance with dark brown to blackish brown on the costal half that grades into a lighter tan or brownish-tan on the dorsal half, ocellus, and termen. The dark shading on the costal half is widest on the proximal three-fourths and tends to narrow before reaching the apex. The costa is darkest, and is marked by a series of black dashes, along with gray to whitish strigulae that are often obscured and most prominent as two white marks near the apex. The ocellus has a pale-tan central field that is bordered basally and distally by indistinct, transverse, silvery-gray bars. It is crossed longitudinally by two dark-brown dashes that are variably expressed. The cilia are tan, and the hindwing is dark smoky brown with tan cilia that have a slightly darker line at the base. The legs are pale brown and are annulated with dark blackish brown.
Forewing Length: 9.0-12.2 mm; mean = 10.5 mm (Wright and Gilligan, 2015)
Adult Structural Features: Wright (2006) and Wright and Gilligan (2015) provide illustrations of the male and female genitalia, and Wright (2006) provides a description of the genitalia as follows. In the males the uncus is convex and moderately developed, the socii are long and setose, and the dorsolateral shoulders of the tegumen are well developed. The gnathos is a narrow band and the vesica has around 22 deciduous cornuti. The valva has the dorsal margin strongly concave and the apex rounded. The ventral two thirds of the distal margin is convex, and the dorsal one third is mildly inset, producing a narrowing of the apical one third of the cucullus. The anal angle is rounded and the neck has a scooped out invagination of the ventrolateral margin. The corner of the sacculus is rounded and nearly right-angled, and the margin of the basal opening has a weakly developed medial projection that supports a small patch of spines.

In the females, the papillae anales are small, face laterally, and are sparsely setose. The sterigma is semirectangular, with the length ca. 1.5 times the width, and with a shallow trough from the center of the posterior margin to the ostium. The lamella antevaginalis is ringlike and very weakly sclerotized, and the lamella postvaginalis has lateral and posterior surfaces that are densely microtrichiate. The posterior margin of sternum VII is invaginated to three fourths the length of the sterigma and closely approximate. The ductus bursae is short, of nearly uniform width, and has a variably sclerotized ring posterior to the juncture with the ductus seminalis. The corpus bursae has two large, fin-shaped signa, and the inner surface of the membrane is microtrichiate.
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larval life history is undocumented.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Wright and Gilligan (2015) noted that most records of Eucosma rusticana are from the eastern one-half of the Midwest (Ohio and Wisconsin, and south to Mississippi and Texas).Wright (2006) examined specimens from Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. Our only records as of 2022 are historical, and include four syntypes that were collected in 1904 near Tryon in Polk County.
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: Wright and Gilligan (2015) reported that the adults fly in April and May in the South and from June through mid-August in the upper Midwest. The historical records from Tryon are from May and early August.
Habitats and Life History
Habitats: This species is generally associated with prairies, grasslands, and other open habitats.
Larval Host Plants: The hosts plants are undocumented. - View
Observation Methods: The adults are attracted to lights.
Wikipedia
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR SH
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.
Comments: We have a single historical site record and the species may no longer be extant in North Carolina.