June 14, 2006

Okay, first I get this email from Cindy Mead 

(Woodsong Nature Photography), posting on the 

"Moth-rah" listserve:

"I went out on a mission yesterday afternoon..to find the 

smallest diurnal moth which I discovered when we first moved to 

this area..."

It goes on to describe the adventure and she posts a photo of her 

conquest here.

So, I got to wondering what the smallest day flying moth I could 

find in my yard in the free half hour I had this morning.  Turns out 

I didn't need the half hour, as the winner was right on my front door. 

This one's called Mathildana newmanella.  It's an 

Oecophorid Moth, related to a couple of bird dropping mimics I have 

on this site.  This is a tiny one, all right - about 3/8" from head to wingtip.

The Oecophorids tend to have the upturned labial palps evident in this 

photo.  According to "Covell", the caterpillars of M. newmanella feed in webs under the bark of standing dead trees.

By the way, Cindy has me beat -  the wingspan of her moth is .3 cm less than the wingspan of my moth....