147 

 A Note on "Tineola uterella" in Hawaii. 



BY OTTO II. SWEZEY, 



Mr. xViigTist Busck has called my attention to this species 

 of moth among the specimens labelled Oecia macidata in the 

 cabinet of the Experiment Station, H. S. P. A. In fact, 

 nearly all so-labelled proved to be Tineola uterella. This spe- 

 cies has not been previously recorded in the Hawaiian Islands. 

 Walsingham, in the Fanna Hawaiiensis, records a single speci- 

 men of 0. maailata,- without locality, collected by Blackburn 

 in the Hawaiian Islands. This no doubt was collected in 

 Honolulu. Walsingham remarks that 0. macidata is ''ex- 

 tremely similar in appearance to Tineola iderella." This and 

 the fact that only the former had been recorded here, led to 

 my confusion of the two species, which I am now able to 

 separate readily, since having their distinctions pointed out 

 by Mr. Busck. They both occur in the West Indies and 

 Brazil, from where they were described. Their larvae are 

 said to have similar habits, in that they live in flattened cases 

 and are found about the walls of houses. 



In Honolulu, T. iderella is much more conmion than 0. 

 maculata, for I have collected but one specimen of the latter , 

 in 11 years of collecting; whereas, the former I have collected 

 frequently from many localities in the Islands, and also reared 

 it from the larval cases so commonly seen about buildings. 



A Braconid, Protapanteles hawaiiensis, is often bred from 

 these cases. It will be necessary to make a correction in a 

 statement about this parasite on page 108 of Proceedings of 

 the Hawaiian Entomological Society, Vol. Ill, 1915. Tineola 

 iderella should be substituted for Oecia macidata as the host 

 of this Braconid. 



Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc. Ill, No. 3, September, 1916. 



