Bug FAQTrigrapha/eldorada clade
Adela trigrapha · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Adelidae
Also called: Three-striped Longhorn
Adult males have large eyes, very long white antennae and black forewings crossed by three white lines, while females are smaller with bright orange heads, metallic blue forewings and purple hindwings. The forewings measure about 5.5 to 6.2 mm in length. It occurs in western North America from Vancouver Island down to California, and its larvae may feed on Leptosiphon species.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have large eyes, antennae three times the forewing length, and black forewings with three white lines; females are smaller, have orange heads, metallic blue forewings and purple hindwings.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Forewing length ranges from 5.5 to 6.2 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae possibly feed on the plants Leptosiphon androsaceus and Leptosiphon bicolor.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range includes western North America, spanning Vancouver Island to California.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 3 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Washington.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where is this moth found?
It occurs in western North America, from Vancouver Island down to California.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Adelidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adela_trigrapha
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.