''Neocrania'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

of the family

Eriocraniidae Eriocraniidae is a family of moths restricted to the Holarctic region, with six extant genera. These small, metallic moths are usually day-flying, emerging fairly early in the northern temperate spring. They have a proboscis with which they drin ...

. It contains only one species, ''Neocrania bifasciata'', which is found in the

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...

of southern California. 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 8–9 mm for males and 7–10 mm for females. The forewings are pale brownish fuscous with a golden iridescence. The hindwings are slightly darker than the forewings and more fuscous and sometimes with a slight purplish sheen. Adults are on wing in early June in one generation per year. The larvae feed on ''

Quercus chrysolepis ''Quercus chrysolepis'', commonly termed canyon live oak, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, is a North American species of evergreen oak that is found in Mexico and in the western United States, notably in the California Coast Ranges. This ...

''.A Revision of the North American Moths of the Superfamily Eriocranioidea with the Proposal of a New Family, Acanthopteroctetidae (Lepidoptera)
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References

Eriocraniidae Moths of North America Monotypic moth genera {{Eriocranioidea-stub