Bug FAQEteobalea sexnotella
Eteobalea sexnotella · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Cosmopterigidae
The adult moth has a wingspan of about 17 mm. It lives in North America, from New Hampshire down to Florida and west to Arkansas, Texas and Ontario. Larvae make stem galls on Trichostema dichotomum and Trichostema suffrutescens. Adults are on the wing in January and from March through September.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan is about 17 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae feed inside stem galls on Trichostema dichotomum and Trichostema suffrutescens.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults have been recorded flying in January and from March to September.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range is North America, including the listed U.S. states and Ontario, Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 18 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Jersey.
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
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
When can I see adult Eteobalea sexnotella?
Adults are on the wing in January and from March through September.
Source: Wikipedia
What plants do the larvae use?
The larvae feed inside stem galls on Trichostema dichotomum and Trichostema suffrutescens.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Cosmopterigidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eteobalea_sexnotella
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-28 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-28.