''Chionodes mariona'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Gelechiidae The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy has been subject to considerable dis ...

. It is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, where it has been recorded from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, southern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 9–10 mm. The forewings are glossy black with two conspicuous cream-colored spots. The first one has the form of a short triangular dash on the outer third of the costa, while the other is an irregular spot of about the same size on the dorsum just beyond the middle. The hindwings are smoky fuscous. The larvae feed on '' Abutilon incanum'', '' Abutilon berlandieri'', ''

Malvastrum ''Malvastrum'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae. Its native range is the New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ...

'' (including '' Malvastrum coromandelianum''), '' Sida'' and ''

Wissadula ''Wissadula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It contains 25 to 30 species of herbs and subshrubs that are mostly native to the Neotropics, with several in tropical Asia and Africa. The name is derived from the ...

'' species. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 6.5–7 mm. They have a yellowish white body with a subdorsal and a lateral longitudinal row of large red blotches and a longitudinal row of smaller red spots.

References

Chionodes Moths described in 1921 Moths of North America {{Chionodes-stub