''Epimartyria pardella'' is a species of

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 ...

belonging to the

Micropterigidae Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about twenty living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of lepidoptera (Kristense ...

family. It was described by Walsingham, Lord Thomas de Grey, in 1880. Its

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 o ...

is 10–11 mm with a metallic brown forewing featuring three distinctive gold spots. Adults are on wing from early May to mid July and are day active. The larvae feed on liverworts, including '' Conocephalum conicum'' and '' Pellia'' speciesA review of the North American genus Epimartyria (Lepidoptera, Micropterigidae) with a discussion of the larval plastron
/ref> and take about two years to fully develop. The species is found in southern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and north-western

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

References

External links

mothphotographersgroup
Micropterigidae Moths described in 1880 Taxa named by Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham {{Micropterigidae-stub