June 14, 2006
Okay, first I get this email from Cindy Mead
"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
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
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....