Plutellidae, Guenee, 1845

Pohl, Greg, Anweiler, Gary, Schmidt, Christian & Kondla, Norbert, 2010, An annotated list of the Lepidoptera of Alberta, Canada, ZooKeys 38 (38), pp. 1-549 : 64

19. Plutellidae – diamondback moths

Small (15–20 mm wingspan) moths with elongate lanceolate wings, usually with a conspicuous fringe on the tornal area of the forewing. Most species have distinctive patterns of white, black, and brown on their forewings. Th e larvae of most species feed on crucifers and construct loose webs from which they skeletonize leaves. This group includes the Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella , which is an important pest of crucifer crops throughout the northern hemisphere.

Approximately 300 species of diamondback moths are known, from all parts of the world. Twelve species are known from North America; seven of these are known from AB. More species currently known only from the Palearctic are likely to be discovered in northwestern North America, including AB. Th e family Plutellidae is poorly defined morphologically; some workers have placed it within the Yponomeutidae . In North America the group is in need of revision; Palearctic species were revised by Baraniak (2007). Smith and Sears (1984) provided diagnostic characters and illustrations of two species.

112 * R Plutella notabilis Busck, 1904 M Aug M – – L: None C: CNC

113 R Plutella vanella Walsingham, 1881 E Jul – M Aug M B – L: Pohl et al. (2005) C: CNC, NFRC, OLDS

114 * R H Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus, 1758) Jul – Oct M B G Diamondback Moth T: Smith and Sears (1984), Baraniak (2007) L: Bowman (1951), Pohl et al. (2004b) C: CNC, NFRC, OLDS, UASM

115 * R I Pseudoplutella porrectella (Linnaeus, 1758) Jun – Aug M B g T: Smith and Sears (1984), Baraniak (2007) L: Bowman (1951) C: CNC, UASM

116 * R Plutelloptera haasi (Staudinger, 1883) Jun – Aug M B – T: Baraniak (2007) L: None C: CNC

117 R Rhigognostis interrupta (Walsingham, 1881) May – B g L: Bowman (1951), Pohl et al. (2004b) C: NFRC, UASM

118 R Rhigognostis poulella (Busck, 1904) Sep M b – L: Bowman (1951) C: CNC, UASM