''Tegeticula maculata'' is a
moth of the
family Prodoxidae. It is found in North America in central-southern cismontane
California, in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
north to
Fresno County, in north-western
Arizona, and from
Baja California Norte to the
Vizcaino region. The habitat consists of coastal chaparral and montane dry shrubby grassland.
Description
The
wingspan is 16–23 mm for ssp. ''maculata''. The forewings for this subspecies are white with two to twelve black spots. The hindwings are medium gray and lightly scaled. Subspecies ''extranea'' has a wingspan of 14–19 mm. The forewings are completely black, as are the hindwings, but these are more thinly scaled.
TOLweb
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Ecology
The larvae feed exclusively on developing seeds of ''Hesperoyucca whipplei
''Hesperoyucca whipplei'' ( syn. ''Yucca whipplei''), the chaparral yucca, our Lord's candle, Spanish bayonet, Quixote yucca or foothill yucca, is a species of flowering plant closely related to, and formerly usually included in, the genus ''Yucc ...
''.
Subspecies
*''Tegeticula maculata maculata
''Tegeticula'' is a genus of moths of the family Prodoxidae, one of three genera known as yucca moths; they are mutualistic pollinators of various ''Yucca'' and '' Hesperoyucca'' species.
Species
* ''Tegeticula altiplanella''
* ''Tegeticula ant ...
''
*'' Tegeticula maculata extranea'' (Edwards, 1888)
References
*
*
Moths described in 1881
Prodoxidae
{{Incurvarioidea-stub