This’ll probably be one of the final posts for a while. I’m heading to West Africa in under 3 weeks and I need to spend my time swotting up on the birds – and fixing the house! Like a lot of North America, we got hit by an intense cold wave which for us meant power outages, frozen and burst pipes and a blocked septic. Fun fun. 🙂 But this weekend we got our water and septic back so it’s been all about home repair and cleanup. But forget all that, let’s look at some moths.

This genus was on my mind this morning because Doug Macaulay has been systematically reviewing many of my moth observations on iNat, including Ethmia. They’re a genus in the Depressariidae family (Flat-bodied moths). I only first encountered them 2 years ago, seeing 3 of the 5 species found here in BC¹. As with other posts here, I’ll update it if and when I see more. So far I’ve seen them in the Cache Creek/Lillooet area and in the Okanagan which is largely representative of their BC distribution as reported so far on iNat.

Ethmia monticola (Grey Ethmia moth)

This is the most commonly reported of the genus in BC. Very distinctive grey colouration overall with bold black markings. Not much variation; not really something you’d misidentify.

• The etymology of the species name monticola is “mountain dweller”, named by Walsingham in 1880, spotted in the Siskiyo range of mountains in Oregon and northern California.
• Bugguide reports they’re not strongly attracted to lights which is interesting, so far my only observations have been from moth nets.
• They have a bright orange abdomen which I recall was very visible in flight.
• On the wing from May-July. Handful of late observations from Aug.

Ethmia marmorea

Again, I’ve found this species pretty distinctive for identification. It has a thick white stripe dorsally with black/dark-brown sides with those three clear V-like notches into the white. The costa has white blotches and it has a nice running stitch-like terminal line. Bugguide mentions it’s bright ochreous ventrally, like E. monticola; MPG shows the dorsal side which is also orange-yellow in some. These guys are on the wing from May-Aug.

Ethmia albicostella

As noted, this was only spotted by myself here in BC and the presence of the species isn’t confirmed yet. Will hold off posting more about it until it’s confirmed/remarked upon.

Ethmia albistrigella

Attractive but uncommon moth. There are currently only a couple of observations on iNat in the province. Etymologically, albistrigella means “having a little/thin white bristle”, in reference to the thin white band on each forewing – it’s most distinctive feature. Flies late April to early August.

Ethmia coquillettella

For a BC-er, the most tantalizing of the Ethmia! Currently only a couple of observations of this species on iNat, both from central California. Doesn’t seem to be taxonomically certain. Part of the albitogata group and not listed on Bugguide. A darker Ethmia with pale patches on the forewings, bordered with black lines.

1. Actually only there are only four species currently on the BC list but I’m reasonably sure I sure an Ethmia albicostella on a trip to Creston, BC in June 2024. See observation here. It’s not confirmed yet, but I’m going to add it to the list here. ↩︎