Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Gelechiidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Friseria | |
Friseria cockerelli, the mesquite webworm moth, is a moth of the Gelechiidae family. It is found in Mexico and the southern United States, where it has been recorded from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, Oklahoma and Nevada.
The wingspan is 15-16.5 mm. The forewings are light yellowish brown, with dark blackish brown markings. There is a large dark brown patch on dorsal edge near the base. The costal base is of the general color of the wing and there is a blackish ill-defined costal spot at the apical third, which runs out in a dark shade across the wing. Just before this spot is another smaller, more sharply defined costal blackish spot. Along the veins and in the disk are longitudinal dark lines, sharpest and darkest in the apical part of the wing, and each terminating at the base of the cilia in a deep black spot. These longitudinal streaks are interrupted at the end of the cell by a short thin perpendicular deep black streak, followed by a short light brown space. The hindwings are yellowish fuscous. Adults are mostly on wing from April to September.
The larvae feed on Prosopis species.
Etymology
The species is named for American zoologist Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell.