Glauce pectenalaeella

Glauce pectenalaeella · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Gelechiidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Glauce pectenalaeella
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

The moth’s forewings are pale yellowish but are mostly hidden by dense dark dusting and spots. The tips of the forewings are a deeper dark color than the rest of the wing.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The ground color is pale yellowish but is almost completely covered by dense dark dusting and spots. The apex of the forewings is a darker shade of fuscous.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 19 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, New Jersey, Alabama, Arkansas, New York, Ohio.

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

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Glauce pectenalaeella photo 2
Photo: jimeckert49, CC BY
Glauce pectenalaeella photo 3
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Glauce pectenalaeella photo 4
Photo: Jeff Niznik, CC BY-SA
Glauce pectenalaeella photo 5
Photo: Jake McCumber, 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/Glauce_pectenalaeella

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

Text written 2026-10-26 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-26.

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.