Elegant Aristotelia

Aristotelia elegantella · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Gelechiidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Elegant Aristotelia
Photo: Annika Lindqvist, CC BY

The Elegant Aristotelia has a wingspan of roughly 13 mm. Its forewings start with a narrow white, iridescent base, followed by an oblique ochre-yellow band edged in brown, then a white band bordered by a brown line that ends at a metallic, iridescent tuft of raised scales on the dorsal edge.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The forewing base is white, iridescent, narrow, and wider on the dorsal margin than on the costal margin.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The wingspan measures about 13 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

It is found in North America, with records from many U.S. states and Ontario, Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 13 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas, Utah.

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

Source: GBIF

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

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Elegant Aristotelia photo 2
Photo: Catherine C. Galley, CC BY
Elegant Aristotelia photo 3
Photo: Annika Lindqvist, CC BY
Elegant Aristotelia photo 4
Photo: Rich Sommer, CC BY
Elegant Aristotelia photo 5
Photo: Annika Lindqvist, 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 inversellaPink-washed Aristotelia MothPink-washed Aristotelia MothAristotelia roseosuffusellaWhite Stripe-backed MothWhite Stripe-backed MothArogalea cristifasciellaBurdock Seedhead MothBurdock Seedhead MothMetzneria lappella

Sources

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

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

Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.

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.