Our insect of the week for February 24, 2025 is Chalcoela iphitalis (Walker, 1859) [LEPIDOPTERA: Crambidae].

Commonly called the sooty-winged chalcoela is found throughout North America. Adults are typically encountered from May to August. This species was described in 1859. Francis Walker was an English entomologist (born the same year as Darwin – 1809). He was one of the most prolific authors in entomology. Unfortunately, many species he named were synonyms of other species (including some he previously described himself in earlier works).

Larvae of this moth are parasitoids and consume the larvae of paper wasps. The moths often invade the wasp nest at night as the wasps don’t see well in low light. Once the moth larvae have consumed wasp larvae and pupae, they spin their cocoons in now empty wasp nest cells.

The adult moth in this image was collected by our former member, Frank Hitchell (who also took the photo).