Silver-Gray Tortricid Moth
This small silver moth was on our house siding near the porch light on May 17, 2010. It was trying to hide its head under the siding.
This is the best picture I could get of the head. Unfortunately, when I tried to nudge it around a bit so I could see the head and side better, it flew off.
At any rate, that round-shouldered shape is characteristic of Tortricid moths, particularly those in the genus Acleris. A number of Tortricids are well-described and studied because they are agricultural pests, but many more are practically ignored because they are not. I’m inclined to think that this is one of the non-pest species, their caterpillars probably roll up and eat leaves of some wild plant that nobody much cares about[1].
Update: Here’s another one that I think is the same species, from November 22, 2012. This one also only let me get a couple of pictures, but at least this time I got a shot that included the head.
This second one was caught so late in the year that I’m pretty sure it overwintered as an adult, so if the May 17 specimen is the same species then it had probably just come out of hibernation. I still don’t know which of the sixty-five Acleris species found north of Mexico they might be, though. These moths seem to be another example of what some entomologists call “spotted dogs” – species where the color patterns are largely random. Like how dalmations and beagles have dramatically different spot patterns but are still the same species.
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[1] Sometimes I think about all the plants that have not been domesticated, and I wonder: is it because they lack characteristics that lend themselves to being domesticated? Is it just that whatever they produce, we either don’t need it, or already have a domesticated plant that produces it, and so why bother? Or are a lot of them actually potentially valuable, but nobody has looked at them to see what things they could provide? It might be interesting to do a survey of all of the plants that grow wild around here, and evaluate them for possible uses. Are they edible? Produce some particular useful chemical? Simply pretty? Stabilize soil? Provide shelter for something else that we want? It would be particularly amusing if some unregarded weed turned out to be the foundation for a major industry. And all the previously-ignored insects that fed on that plant would suddenly get promoted to Agricultural Pest Status.
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That would be a really interesting project (about your plant survey). Ethnobotanical journals would be useful resources if you decide to try it. I’m a gardener and I love my milkweeds, but farmers consider milkweed species to be a noxious pests…although if some major use could be found for them, would the government make Monarch caterpillars a pest too? Native peoples did use milkweeds – the young shoots of some species are edible if boiled and the outer peel can be used to make a pretty good twine (I can attest to the latter). It’s similar with lots of weeds – dandelions, stinging nettles, plantains…so I suppose it goes to show (exactly what, don’t ask me).