Phymatopus californicus

Phymatopus californicus, the lupine ghost moth, is a species of moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1868 and is known from the US state of California.[2]

Phymatopus californicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Hepialidae
Genus:
Phymatopus
Species:
P. californicus
Binomial name
Phymatopus californicus
(Boisduval, 1868)[1]
Synonyms
  • Hepialus californicus Boisduval, 1868
  • Hepialus sequoiolus Behrens, 1876
  • Hepialus mendocinolus Behrens, 1876
  • Hepialus baroni Behrens, 1876
  • Hepialus rectus Edwards, 1881
  • Hepialus scequoilus Edwards, 1881

The wingspan is about 40 mm.

Recorded food plants for the species include Lupinus, Baccharis and Eriophyllum. There is one generation per year. Females drop hundreds to thousands eggs while flying over patches of lupine bushes. First- and second-instar larvae develop in the soil under lupines and feed on the exterior of the upper portions of lupine tap root. By mid-to-late spring, the larvae burrow into the plants, forming feeding galleries inside the central shoot and the upper part of the central tap root. Several larvae may be found in a single plant. Pupation occurs in fall.[3]

References
  1. Nielsen, Ebbe S.; Robinson, Gaden S.; Wagner, David L. (2000). "Ghost-moths of the world: a global inventory and bibliography of the Exoporia (Mnesarchaeoidea and Hepialoidea) (Lepidoptera )" (PDF). Journal of Natural History. 34 (6): 823–878. doi:10.1080/002229300299282. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  2. Moth Photographers Group. Mississippi State University.
  3. BugGuide


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