''Chionodes mariona'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

in the family

Gelechiidae The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy (biology), taxonomy ...

. It is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where it has been recorded from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, southern

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 9–10 mm. The forewings are glossy black with two conspicuous cream-colored spots. The first one has the form of a short triangular dash on the outer third of the costa, while the other is an irregular spot of about the same size on the dorsum just beyond the middle. The hindwings are smoky fuscous. The larvae feed on ''

Abutilon incanum ''Abutilon incanum'', also known as hoary abutilon, pelotazo, pelotazo chico, tronadora, and ''mao'' (Hawaiian language, Hawaii), is a shrub widespread throughout the arid, warm regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico as wel ...

'', '' Abutilon berlandieri'', '' Malvastrum'' (including '' Malvastrum coromandelianum''), '' Sida'' and ''

Wissadula ''Wissadula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow family, Malvaceae. It contains 25 to 30 species of Herbaceous plant, herbs and subshrubs that are mostly native to the Neotropical realm, Neotropics, with several in tropical Asia ...

'' species. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 6.5–7 mm. They have a yellowish white body with a subdorsal and a lateral longitudinal row of large red blotches and a longitudinal row of smaller red spots.

References

Chionodes Moths described in 1921 Moths of North America {{Chionodes-stub