Chalcoela iphitalis

Sooty-winged Chalcoela
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Crambidae
Genus:	Chalcoela
Species:	C. iphitalis
Binomial name
Chalcoela iphitalis (Walker, 1859)[1]
Synonyms
Cataclysta iphitalis Walker, 1859 Chalcoela aurifera Zeller, 1872

The sooty-winged chalcoela (Chalcoela iphitalis) is a member of the Crambidae family that occurs throughout North America. They are seen as far south as California and South Carolina and as north as Ontario. Adults can be seen from May to August. The head, body and front portion of the forewings are yellow-orange while the hindwing and back portion of the forewings are grey and silver. The back edge of the hindwing has black spots.^[2]

The larvae are parasitoid, feeding on the larvae of paper wasps, including species such as Polistes dominulus. Polistes exclamans, Polistes metricus, and Mischocyttarus flavitarsis.^[3] For example, M. flavitarsis nests are often invaded by these moths at night because the wasps cannot see them. The moths migrate among the cells, consuming wasp larvae and pupae. They will then lay their larvae, which spin cocoons in empty cells. M. flavitarsis do not attempt to rid the nest of the parasite. Instead, they will continue as a nest or abandon and renest elsewhere.^[4]

References