Helcystogramma badia

Helcystogramma badia · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Gelechiidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Helcystogramma badia
Photo: Ken-ichi Ueda, CC BY

Helcystogramma badia has a wingspan of about 16 mm and its forewings are ocherous with reddish-tinged outer scales. The moth shows distinct dark brown spots on the forewings and whitish hindwings. It lives in western North America, from California and Nevada up through southern British Columbia and Utah, and adults fly in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Forewings are ocherous with outer scales tipped in a slightly deeper reddish color. A dark brown discal dot sits in the middle of the cell, with a larger transverse spot at the cell’s end and a plical spot just before the first discal; hindwings are whitish.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The wingspan measures about 16 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It has been recorded in California, Nevada, Utah, and up into southern British Columbia.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Adults are on the wing in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Flight activity occurs during July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 6 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Montana, Utah, Washington, Kansas, Nevada.

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

Questions people ask

When are adult Helcystogramma badia moths active?

Adults are active and can be seen flying in July and August.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Gelechiidae)

Sources

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

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

Text written 2026-10-29 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-29.

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.