''Echinocereta'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

snout moth genus described by Herbert H. Neunzig in 1997. The genus contains only one species, ''Echinocereta strigalis'', described by

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

and James Halliday McDunnough in 1912, which is found in the US states of

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 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and in

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 30–43 mm for males and 33–44 mm for females. The larvae feed on ''

Echinocereus ''Echinocereus'' is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized, cylindrical shaped cacti, comprising about 70 species native to the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny, rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fruit ...

'' species,Phylogeny of the cactus-feeding phycitines and their relatives (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) based on adult morphology: Evaluation of adult character-systems in phycitine systematics and evidence for a single origin of Cactaceae-feeding larvae
/ref> including ''

Echinocereus pectinatus ''Echinocereus pectinatusi'' is a species of Echinocereus, hedgehog cactus. It was first described by Engelm in 1848. It is found in the south-western US (New Mexico and Texas) and northern Mexico (Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua and Sonora). Subs ...

''.

References

Phycitini Monotypic moth genera Moths of North America Pyralidae genera {{Phycitini-stub