Depressaria alienella
species of insect
Depressaria alienella is a moth in the family Depressariidae. It was described by August Busck in 1904. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Yukon to Nova Scotia, south to New England, Arizona and California.
The wingspan is 18–21 mm. The forewings are light fuscous overlaid with red or reddish fuscous, irrorated with cinereous and fuscous and streaked with blackish fuscous. There is a white discal spot at the end of the cell, preceded and followed by fuscous. There is an ill-defined row of fuscous spots around the termen. Adults are on wing from July to September.
The larvae feed on the flowers of Artemisia and Achillea species.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Depressaria alienella” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Depressaria, alienella and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “species of insect” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13585324. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1904.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Depressaria alienella” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.