#004 - Bent-line Carpet Moth (Costaconvexa centrostrigaria)

Bent-line Carpet Moth (Costaconvexa centrostrigaria)

I usually notice this one only after it has already stopped moving.

Pressed flat against bark or siding, the wings held open and still, the moth looks less like an insect and more like pattern—something woven into the surface itself.

Small:

Wingspan about 17–23 mm. Easy to miss unless your eye is already tuned to edges and textures.

The bent lines:

Angled, broken markings run across the wings, disrupting the moth’s outline. When it rests, shadows disappear. What’s left reads as bark, not prey.

Subtle differences:

Females tend to be darker, often with a deeper reddish-brown or charcoal tone through the center of the wings. Males are usually paler gray. It’s a difference you notice only after repetition.

A quiet generalist:

Sometimes called the Traveler. Found in wet low spots, ditches, woodland edges, and suburban yards across Northeast Ohio—wherever its host plants are allowed to grow.

Life in the middle:

Caterpillars feed on smartweeds and knotweeds (Polygonum and Persicaria).

They become food for songbirds raising young.

Adults are taken by bats and night-flying birds.

At night, they visit flowers that stay open after dark.

What they ask for:

Leaves left on the ground.

Lights kept low.

Chemicals used sparingly—or not at all.

A small moth, doing its work quietly.

Easy to overlook.

Easy to lose.

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