Table 1 – Comparison of larval characters of H. nigritalis, S. ambigualis and E. lacustrata.

Segment	Character	Helenoscoparia nigritalis	Scoparia ambigualis (after Smith 2004)	Eudonia lacustrata
prothoracal segment	prothoracic shield	size, opacity, dark brown, trapezoid	large, shiny, semitranslucent, dark brown, rather rectangular	large, translucent, yellowish brown, trapezoid
		with smooth outline	anterior edge with a dark, shallow rounded 'W' outline	anterior edge with straight outline
		not such a border	dark sepia border around anterior and lateral edges	not such a border
	setae	six macroscopic setae on anterior edge and six in postmedian region	six macroscopic setae on anterior edge and six in posterior region	six macroscopic setae on anterior edge and six in posterior region
	pinacula	pair of broad, elongate pinacula posterior to prothoracic shield	dark sepia prespiracular pinaculum and subventral pinaculum, each with two setae	yellowish brown prespiracular subventral pinaculum, each with two setae
		lateral with a broad, shield-like sclerotisation around spiraculum, subventral pinaculum very broad, each with two setae	prespiracular and subventral pinacula very close	prespiracular and subventral pinacula further apart (about one diameter of a pinaculum)
	bases of legs	broad semilunar sclerotisation at bases of legs	[not described]	broad, but weak shape sclerotisation at bases of legs
	femur	dark brown	[not described]	yellowish brown
	tibia	dark brown		yellowish brown
	claw	pale	[not described]	slightly more sclerotised than integument
thoracic segments 2 & 3	dorsal pinacula	two pairs of dorsal pinnacula, anterior very small, posterior very large, semicircular, anastomosed with the subdorsal pinaculum	pair of large dorsal pinacula, separated by a distance roughly equal to the diameter of a pinaculum	pair of medium dorsal pinacula, separated by a distance about 1.5 times diameter of a pinaculum
	subdorsal pinacula	[see above]	adjacent to each dorsal pinaculum there is a large subdorsal pinaculum	adjacent to each dorsal pinaculum there is a subdorsal pinaculum of similar size
	lateral pinacula	two lateral pinacula, posterior larger than anterior	two large lateral pinacula	two medium sized lateral pinacula
	subventral pinaculum	one elongate subventral pinaculum	elongate subventral pinaculum	elongate subventral pinaculum
	setae	anteriodorsal pinaculum with two setae, posteriodorsal pinaculum with four setae	two setae on dorsal pinacula and anterior of lateral pinaculum	two setae on dorsal and subdorsal pinacula and anterior of lateral pinaculum
		one seta on subventral and posterior to lateral pinaculum	one seta on subventral and posterior to lateral pinaculum	one seta on subventral and posterior to lateral pinaculum
	ventral pinacula	base of legs with circular pinaculum	ventrally a pair of unisetose pinacula	ventrally a pair of unisetose pinacula
	femur	concolorous with pinacula	concolorous with integument	concolorous with pinacula
	tibia	concolorous with pinacula	concolorous with pinacula	concolorous with pinacula
	tarsus	concolorous with pinacula	a little paler than integument, with grey marks on base	concolorous with pinacula
	setae on leg	probably up to 8 setae on each leg	about 8 setae on each leg	not examined