Native
Platynota exasperatana (Zeller) (Tortricidae: Tortricinae: Sparganothini)
Common name: exasperating Platynota moth
Synonyms: scotiana (Sparganothis)
FWL: 5.5-7.0 mm (males); 6.0-8.0 mm (females)
Head gray-brown to white; males with a well-developed complex hood above the fronsfrons:
the upper anterior portion of the head (in adults) 
; thorax with concolorous with head but with darker scales anteriorly; labial palpilabial palpi:
a pair of sensory appendages that project from the lower part of the head; usually covered in scales and three-segmented
long, gray-brown to white, shorter in male; forewing with transverse rows of raised scale tufts, ground color gray-brown to brown, grayish-white scaling variably developed as patches along costacosta:
the anterior margin of each wing 
and occupying distaldistal:
farthest from body, distant from point of attachment
third of forewing, but sometimes overlaid with darker gray or brown scaling; male with costal fold present; hindwing of both sexes light brown to light gray with faint strigulae, males with white portion basally.
Male genitalia are characterized by a slender uncusuncus:
a sclerotized process which is fused to the posterodorsal margin of tergum IX
which is broader at the base; large, well-developed sociisocii:
a pair of lightly sclerotized setose lobes
; and rounded, elliptical valvaevalvae:
plural of "valva"
with a sclerotizedsclerotized:
hardened; usually in reference to larval structures or adult genitalia 
dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back 
margin. Female genitalia are characterized by a bowl-like sterigmasterigma:
the sclerotized region surrounding the female ostium bursae 
; and signumsignum:
a sclerotized projection or patch on the interior of the corpus bursae
present as a small, seemingly wrinkled sclerite at base of corpus bursaecorpus bursae:
a dilated membranous sac at the anterior end of the bursa copulatrix
.
The larva of P. exasperatana is unknown at present, but is likely similar to other species of Platynota, such as P. idaeusalis, for which the larva is known and described (see MacKay 1962aMacKay 1962a:
MacKay, M. R. 1962a. Larvae of the North American Tortricinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Canadian Entomologist, Supplement 28: 1-182.).
Adults of P. exasperatana, especially males, are extremely similar to adults of P. idaeusalis and P. semiustana. Only P. idaeusalis is treated on this site. All three of these species are variable, both geographically and individually, in forewing pattern and male genitalia. Some specimens may not be able to be confidently assigned to species. Platynota exasperatana can usually be separated from these two species by the presence of pale whitish-yellow scaling on the dorsumdorsum:
the lower (usually posterior) or inner margin 
of the second segment of the labial palpus and white or cream-colored scales at the base of the dorsaldorsal:
upper, to the top, on the back margin of the forewing.
The early stages of P. exasperatana are unknown. Wagner et al. (1995) suggested larvae may feed on grasses and detritus, but this is unconfirmed. Adults primarily fly from April to July (probably representing a single generation); in Texas adults can be found as early as March. In the Great Smoky Mountains, there may be two generations, one with adults in late spring and early summer and another in late June and July (Powell & Brown 2012).
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Platynota exasperatana is broadly distributed in eastern North America, from Nova Scotia to Wisconsin and south to Florida and eastern Texas.
