''Tetragma gei'' 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 ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Prodoxidae The Prodoxidae are a family of moths, generally small in size and nondescript in appearance. They include species of moderate pest status, such as the Lampronia capitella, currant shoot borer, and others of considerable ecological and evolutiona ...

. It is found in herb-rich steppe and forest openings in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. 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 11–17 mm. Adults are almost entirely pale ochreous or creamy white. Females possess an elongated, telescoping abdomen used to reach in the deeply recessed ovaries of the host plant.TOLweb
/ref> The larvae feed on ''

Geum triflorum ''Geum triflorum'', commonly known as prairie smoke, torch flower, long-plumed purple avens, lion's beard, three-flowered avens, or old man's whiskers, is a spring-blooming perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the ''Geum'' genus. It is a hemi ...

''. Young larvae feed inside the developing seeds.

References

Prodoxidae Monotypic moth genera Adeloidea genera Moths of North America Taxa named by Donald R. Davis (entomologist) {{Incurvarioidea-stub