Skunk Moth

Polix coloradella

9 to 12 mm long. Forewing length 7.5-9.3 mm, rarely 6.7mm.
Adult - forewing black with white strip beginning on top of head and continuing along inner margin, bending 45 degrees near anal angle and extending almost half-way to apex.
Head: Pale yellow to yellowish-white.
Antenna: Grayish-brown, with faint paler rings.
Thorax: Gray-brown, outlined in pale yellow to yellowish-white.
Wings: Forewings long, wide at tips. Grayish-brown, slightly speckled with creamy-white. Inner margin has yellow stripe. With wings closed, stripe continues from yellow thorax edge to anal angle where it forms a crescent shape on each wing. Fringe same as wing color. Hindwings and fringe paler than forewings.
Note: In Colorado and California, the stripe down the center is faint to absent.
Legs: Dark grayish-brown.
Abdomen: Dark grayish-brown
Polix coloradella Polix coloradella Geotagged,Polix coloradella,Skunk Moth,Summer,United States

Naming

Polix coloradella (Walsingham, 1888)
Oecophora coloradella Walsingham, 1888 (1)
Schiffermuelleria rostrigera Meyrick, 1919 (237)
Borkhausenia coloradella
Schiffermuelleria coloradella
Hodges #1058
Polix coloradella Polix coloradella Geotagged,Polix coloradella,Skunk Moth,Summer,United States

Distribution

Scattered records from coast to coast in the US and Canada.

Behavior

Adults fly in June and July, and may be attracted to light.

Food

Larvae feed on fungus in rotting wood, particularly Bull’s Eye Rot Neofabraea perennans - a canker on Apples Malus, Pear Pyrus and Serviceberry Amelanchier.

References:

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Sourced from Bug Guide
https://bugguide.net/node/view/35511
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyOecophoridae
GenusPolix
SpeciesPolix coloradella