Galapagos Species Database

This species belongs to the ‘acuminata group’ of Dichomeris (Hodges, 1986) composed of one additional taxon, i.e. D. nenia Hodges distributed in the southeast of the usA. These can be separated by the pale orange scales above the eye in D. acuminatus, medium to dark grey in D. nenia, the smooth median margins of the lobes of the juxta in D. acuminatus (Fig. 78), serrate in D. nenia, and in the female genitalia, by the antrum with the ventral plate shorter than broad in D. acuminatus (Fig. 100), longer than broad in D. nenia. in the galapagos this species is most similar to Mesophleps adustipennis (Walsingham) and Sitotroga cerealella (olivier). The three can be separated by the presence of dark brown scaling on the distal half of the forewing costa in M. adustipennis, and the presence of a pecten on the antennal scape in S. cerealella. in addition, D. acuminatus has a large, anteriorly produced ventral scale tuft on the second labial palp segment whereas there is a scale tuft only dorsally in M. adustipennis and none in S. cerealella. The galapagos specimens available vary in forewing length from 4.7 to 5.3 mm in males, and 3.8 to 5.1 mm in females. The forewing submedian and post -median spots along midline are rarely expressed more strongly than in the specimen illustrated here (Landry & Roque, 2010).

Larva are known to feed on many different species of Fabaceae. Have been known to reach pest status on alfalfa and indigo. Galapagos specimens were collected from the sea shore to 630 m in elevation in the months of March, April, and May.