Casemaking Clothes Moth vs Pine Shoot Moth

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Casemaking Clothes Moth Pine Shoot Moth
Scientific Name Tinea pellionella Rhyacionia buoliana
Order Lepidoptera Lepidoptera
Family Tineidae Tortricidae
Size 10-15 mm wingspan 18-24 mm wingspan
Habitat Underground Farmland
Diet Omnivores Omnivores
Regions Cosmopolitan Europe, Asia, North America (introduced)
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Casemaking Clothes Moth

A small silvery-brown moth whose larva constructs a portable silken case that it drags along as it feeds. It is a significant pest of furs, woolens, and museum specimens.

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Did You Know?

The larva never leaves its portable case, enlarging it as it grows by adding fibers from whatever material it is eating.

Pine Shoot Moth

A small bright orange moth with silver-grey crosslines on the forewings. Its larvae bore into the terminal shoots of young pine trees, causing deformity.

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Did You Know?

Attacked trees develop a characteristic 'posthorn' bend from the distorted leader shoot.