Chionodes thoraceochrella

Chionodes thoraceochrella · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Gelechiidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Chionodes thoraceochrella
Photo: Victor Engel, CC BY

The moth’s wingspan measures about 13 to 15 mm. Its forewings are whitish-fuscous, speckled with dark brown and black scales, and show a faint whitish streak below a nearly black costal edge. It is found across North America, from Nova Scotia and southern Quebec down to Georgia and west to Washington, California, Utah and Arizona.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Forewings are whitish-fuscous with dark brown and black speckles; a faint whitish longitudinal streak runs below a nearly black costal edge.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Wingspan ranges from 13 to 15 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae feed on white oak, swamp white oak, red oak and chokecherry.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Native to North America, spanning eastern Canada to the southern United States and the western states mentioned above.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 33 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Tennessee, New York, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, Alabama, Massachusetts.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Chionodes thoraceochrella photo 3
Photo: David LaMagna, CC BY
Chionodes thoraceochrella photo 4
Photo: Mike Slater, CC BY
Chionodes thoraceochrella photo 5
Photo: NC Moth Project, CC BY-SA
Chionodes thoraceochrella photo 6
Photo: Sam Kieschnick, CC BY

Same family (Gelechiidae)

Angoumois Grain MothAngoumois Grain MothSitotroga cerealellaDamages trees, gardens or cropsBlack-smudged Chionodes MothBlack-smudged Chionodes MothChionodes mediofuscellaInverse and Kimball's Dichomeris MothsInverse and Kimball's Dichomeris MothsDichomeris inversellaWhite Stripe-backed MothWhite Stripe-backed MothArogalea cristifasciellaPalmerworm Moth and AlliesPalmerworm Moth and AlliesDichomeris ligulellaCream-edged Dichomeris Moth and AlliesCream-edged Dichomeris Moth and AlliesDichomeris flavocostella

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chionodes_thoraceochrella

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.