Montana Field Guide

The Nephelodes minians wingspan is about 40 mm. The forewing ground color is extremely variable, and ranges from light tan/yellowish, to pinkish, rosy, rusty, grayish, or various shades of brown. A dark U-shaped band surrounds the reniform spot medially.

The Nephelodes minians larvae head is large, and is colored tan to honey. The larvae body is thick, dark brown with a bronzy sheen. There are three yellowish dorsal stripes that extend along body (Powell and Opler, 2009).

Shropshire and Tallamy (2025) provide a list, with synonymies, of 13,055 described native, exotic, and occasional straying Lepidoptera species of North America, north of Mexico; known but undescribed taxa, taxa with unresolved taxonomy, and excluded species are also included. The main manuscript includes links to supplementary materials, including a reference list for Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, and a filterable spreadsheet with information on taxonomy, synonymy, size ranges of species, distribution by state, province, and country with references, and host-plant Family and Genus associations with references.

Nephelodes minians adults fly from July to October (Powell and Opler, 2009).

Shropshire and Tallamy (2025) provide a link to a supplemental filterable spreadsheet with information on host-plant Family and Genus associations with references for all Lepidoptera species of North America, north of Mexico.

The Nephelodes minians larvae feed on grasses, including cereal crops and corn (Powell and Opler, 2009).