Harry, Just out of curiosity, I did a little research into Rhyacionia to try and learn a little more about species distribution. In some technical forestry papers online, I found several papers describing damage done by two species to loblolly pine plantations in the southeast: R. rigidana and R. frustrana. The type locality of frustrana is Virginia (not sure where the common name Nantucket pine tip moth came from). I could find no mention of any other Rhyacionia in the southeastern coastal plain except for subtropica which occurs in Florida. If somebody forced me to put a species name on your moth, even though it's not a perfect match, I think there is a pretty good chance it is frustrana ( and an appropriate name given your difficulty with it!). Merrill On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 7:54 PM, Harry Wilson <harrywilson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > Moth-ers, > > I have decided that moths should be required to carry identification with > them. That way there will be some hope for me to maintain my sanity. > > Last night I took the attached photos, and many others, of a micro moth > that is giving me a headache. One problem is that my sheet was not anchored > as well as it should have been, so I had a constantly moving target. After > searching through MPG and BugGuide, I believe that the closest match is an > unlikely candidate, #2887.1,Rhyacionia duplana or Summer Shoot Moth/Elgin > Shoot Moth. It resembles Tom Murrays photos from Groton MA at > http://bugguide.net/node/view/382988 and > http://www.pbase.com/image/123416460. This is a European and Asian moth > that has been documented in the US only in MA, as far as I can tell. I have > included information on host plants and distribution to show why I discount > my tentative ID. I hope that someone may bring me back to my senses with a > better, more logical, ID. > > Host plants: Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine), Pinus contorta var. latifolia > (Shore Pine, a common tree in western North America), Pinus thunbergii > (Japanese Black Pine, Japanese Pine, Black Pine – native to Japan and S. > Korea), Picea sitchensis (Sitka Spruce – from AK down coast to n. CA). > Distribution: Northern and Central Europe to Eastern Russia and Japan. Also > recorded from Korea, but Byun et al., 1998, have not found any specimens. > In the UK, this species is represented by the subspecies Rhyacionia duplana > logaea , where it is also known as the Elgin shoot moth; in Japan the > subspecies Rhyacionia duplana simulata Heinrich occurs. > > Harry Wilson > Zebulon, NC > -- J. Merrill Lynch Echo Valley Farm Watauga County, NC Elevation: 3,400 feet