Telphusa sedulitella

Telphusa sedulitella · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Gelechiidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Telphusa sedulitella
Photo: Trevor Van Loon, CC BY

The moth has a wingspan of about 13 to 14 mm and its forewings are dark brown with lighter brown, black and white mottling. It lives in western North America, from British Columbia and Washington down through Oregon, California and Arizona to Baja California.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Hindwings are a light bluish-gray color, getting darker toward the edges.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The wingspan measures 13 to 14 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It has been recorded in Arizona, British Columbia, California, Oregon and Washington.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae feed on oak (Quercus), willow (Salix) and hazel (Corylus) species.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its range includes western North America, extending south to Baja California.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 9 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Colorado, Utah, Georgia, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Kansas.

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

Telphusa sedulitella photo 2
Photo: Ken-ichi Ueda, CC BY
Telphusa sedulitella photo 3
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

Same family (Gelechiidae)

Angoumois Grain MothAngoumois Grain MothSitotroga cerealellaDamages trees, gardens or cropsBlack-smudged Chionodes MothBlack-smudged Chionodes MothChionodes mediofuscellaInverse and Kimball's Dichomeris MothsInverse and Kimball's Dichomeris MothsDichomeris inversellaPink-washed Aristotelia MothPink-washed Aristotelia MothAristotelia roseosuffusellaWhite Stripe-backed MothWhite Stripe-backed MothArogalea cristifasciellaBurdock Seedhead MothBurdock Seedhead MothMetzneria lappella

Sources

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

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.

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.