Leach's Grass Veneer

Often common, no concerns.

Adults have been collected in Alberta from August to mid September.

A widespread North American species. Scholtens comments that in the Douglas Lake Region of Michigan this is "probably the most common late season weedy species".

A moderately large crambid (25-27 mm wingspan) with medium brown forewings having a wide longitudinal silvery white discal stripe which ends before the subterminal line. This stripe lacks a tooth below and is not cut by an oblique line. The forewings have a triangularly produced apex. There is a row of 5 dark spots in the subterminal line. The hind wings are smoky white. The cilia of both fore and hind wings are silvery metallic. Males are similar to females. Similar to Crambus pascuellus, but the median stripe is not cut by an oblique line. Similar to C. ainsliellus but the hindwings are smoky white, not grayish white; also the gnathos of the male is narrow throughout rather than being narrow at the base, broadening distally, thus appearing spoon shaped. Similar to C. hamellus and C. occidentalis but the median stripe lacks a tooth below.

Grassland areas.

Diurnal and comes to light. Apparently single brooded.

Presumably grasses.

Crambus leachellus, or Leach's grass-veneer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Johann Leopold Theodor Friedrich Zincken in 1818. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Ontario and Maryland to Florida, west to California and Oregon. The habitat consists of grasslands and meadows.

The wingspan is 25–27 mm. The forewings are brown with a silvery-white discal stripe and a row of five dark spots in the subterminal line. The hindwings are smoky white. Adults are on wing from May to September in two to four generations per year.

The larvae feed on grasses. They hide in the grass or upper layer of the soil within a silken tunnel during the day and feed mainly at night. The species overwinters in the larval stage. Pupation takes place in the grass.