FACT SHEET
Pink Scavenger Caterpillar Moth
Family Cosmopterigidae
RECOGNITION
Diagnostic features. The wings are long, pointed and narrow. The hind margins of the wings have long fringes of scales much longer than the width of the wings. The terminal segment of the labial palp has three dark transverse bands. The labial palps are longer and thinner than in the pink bollworm. Some species in this genus may have a pecten of stiff spines on the scape of the antenna.
How to distinguish from the pink bollworm:
The first indication that these moths are not the pink bollworm is their small size. The hind wings are also very different because they are narrow and pointed instead of being broad with the sigmoidal curve.
Pyroderces rileyi (Walsingham)
Photo credit: Wendy Moore
ECOLOGY
Feeding habits. The larva of this moth is a scavenger. It will not usually feed on cotton unless the cotton is already damaged by some other agent. However, its larva has been known to feed on undamaged oranges when there is a large enough infestation, so it is possible it could feed on cotton in when the population size is large, but this has not been documented.
Pyroderces rileyi male genitalia, dissected and cleared. Illustration from Busck 1917.