Yucca Moth Photos

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WAYNE'S WORD Volume 9 (Number 2) Summer 2000

More Yucca Moth Photos

A female yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata) in the upright pollination position on the pistil of Yucca whipplei. She forces pollen down into the central stigmatic depression, thus pollinating the flower.

Close-up view of a Yucca whipplei seed chamber containing the larva of a yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata). The larva fastens together up to a dozen seeds with silk and feeds within these joined seeds. It remains within this feeding cavity (inside the yucca seed capsule high on a flower stalk) throughout the summer and fall months.

A tattered male yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata). Many of the black wing scales have fallen off. Although it is roughly the same size as female moths (or slightly smaller), it lacks the enlarged, coiled maxillary palpi and slender ovipositor.

A yucca weevil (Scyphophorus yuccae), a flattened black beetle 15-17 millimeters long with an elongate snout. Yucca weevils feed on the sap of the growing flower stalk of Yucca whipplei.

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