Moths of North Carolina

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View PDF	Pyralidae Members:	Pyralis Members:	53 NC Records

Pyralis farinalis Linnaeus, 1758 - Meal Moth

Taxonomy

Superfamily:
Pyraloidea

Family:
Pyralidae

Subfamily:
Pyralinae

Tribe:
Pyralini

P3 Number:
80a0667

MONA Number:
5510.00

Other Common Name:
Common Meal Moth

Identification

Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984); Beadle and Leckie (2012)

Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD

Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.

Distribution in North Carolina

Distribution:

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

Habitats and Life History

Habitats: Our records come mainly from developed areas.

Larval Host Plants: Larvae feed on fungi, stored grains, and other detritus; also on various herbaceous species (Robinson et al., 2010). - View

Wikipedia

Status in North Carolina

Natural Heritage Program Status:

Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR SNA

State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.

Comments: Cosmopolitan; probably exotic in North America.

Photo Gallery for Pyralis farinalis - Meal Moth

54 photos are available. Only the most recent 30 are shown.

	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2025-09-01 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Michael P Morales on 2025-08-28 Cumberland Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Michael P Morales on 2025-08-28 Cumberland Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Michael P Morales on 2025-08-28 Cumberland Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2025-07-24 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Jim Petranka, John Petranka and Becky Elkin on 2025-05-08 Harnett Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Teper on 2025-05-02 Orange Co. Comment:		Recorded by: R. Newman on 2025-05-01 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2024-08-27 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: R. Newman on 2024-08-21 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: K. Bischof on 2024-04-18 Transylvania Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Dean Furbish on 2023-09-26 Wake Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2023-09-07 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Stephen Dunn on 2023-08-09 Orange Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2023-06-08 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: R. Newman on 2023-04-24 Carteret Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Stephen Dunn on 2023-03-30 Orange Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Morgan Freese on 2022-08-04 Buncombe Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Simpson Eason on 2022-07-05 Durham Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Vin Stanton on 2022-05-27 Buncombe Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Dean Furbish on 2022-05-21 Wake Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Gary Maness on 2022-05-16 Guilford Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: David George, L. M. Carlson on 2022-05-15 Orange Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Stephen Hall on 2022-05-14 Orange Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: R. Newman on 2022-04-30 Carteret Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Lior Carlson on 2021-08-20 Orange Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Ken Kneidel on 2021-06-18 Yancey Co. Comment:		Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-05-27 Buncombe Co. Comment:
	Recorded by: Mark Basinger on 2021-05-26 Brunswick Co. Comment:		Recorded by: Jim Petranka, Bo Sullivan and Steve Hall on 2021-05-10 Moore Co. Comment: