FACT SHEET

Mesquite Bean Moth

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Pink Bollworm and its Look-alikesWelcome.html
 
 

Family Torticidae


RECOGNITION

Diagnostic features. The forewings are streaked with many lines of black and white. The labial palps are not upturned and the terminal segment is covered in black scales and is very short and stout. The hind wings have a very narrow fringe of scales less than half as long as the width of the hind wing. The hind wing is smoothly rounded and the forewing tip appears flat, relative to the pink bollworm.

How to distinguish from the pink bollworm:

This moth is the easiest to tell apart because of its peculiar striated pattern on the wings and its forward-facing labial palps.

 

Ofatulena duodecemstriata (Walsingham)

Photo credit: Wendy Moore

Ofatulena duodecemstriata (Mesquite Bean Moth) male collected in a DELTA trap.
Scale bar = 0.5 cm. Photo credit: Wendy Moore

Ofatulena duodecemstriata (Mesquite Bean Moth) male genitalia, dissected and cleared. Scale bar = 1 mm.
Photo credit: Wendy Moore





ECOLOGY

Feeding habits. This species is not associated with cotton, but rather it is associated with mesquite. The larvae feed on mesquite bean pods. Males can be quite abundant in DELTA traps when the trap is set near mesquite trees.