Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the Americas and the Caribbean in a wide range of habitats, from humid rainforest and wet subtropical ecosystems to the hot and dry (arid) deserts and savanna.
Yucca baccata is a common species of yucca native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, from southeastern California north to Utah, east to western Texas and south to Sonora and Chihuahua. It is also reported in the wild in Colombia.
Yucca elata is a perennial plant, with common names that include soaptree, soaptree yucca, soapweed, and palmella. It is native to southwestern North America, in the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in the United States, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and northern Mexico. Yucca elata is widely distributed, although its population appears to be decreasing.
The Prodoxidae are a family of moths, generally small in size and nondescript in appearance. They include species of moderate pest status, such as the currant shoot borer, and others of considerable ecological and evolutionary interest, such as various species of "yucca moths".
Megathymus streckeri, or Strecker's giant skipper, is butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the United States from southeastern Montana and southwestern North Dakota south to southern Texas and west to northwestern Arizona and southwestern Utah. Its habitats include short grass prairies, sand hills, and rocky bluffs.
Parategeticula elephantipella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Veracruz, Mexico.
Parategeticula martella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in southern Coahuila, Mexico.
Parategeticula tzoyatlella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the southern Mapimí area of the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico.
Tegeticula tehuacana is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in Mexico in Oaxaca, western- and south-western Veracruz, and central-northern Puebla centred on the Tehuacan Valley.
Tegeticula tambasi is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in Mexico from northern central San Luis Potosí south-east to Querétaro, and south-westward beyond Morelia, Michoacán.
Tegeticula intermedia is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. Along with other moth species, it is commonly known as a yucca moth. T. intermedia lives in North America, particularly the United States. The moth resides in the southwest, the Great Plains, the Southeast, and mid-Atlantic. It also has been found much farther north in regions of Canada like Ontario and Alberta. There are also notable populations present in New Mexico. Their habitats are diverse and vary in terms of climate, landscape, and other factors. The moth lives in sand dunes, forests, glades, grassland, desert, and forests from the East Coast to the Southwest. Yucca moths have developed a strong mutualism with the yucca plant, such that both depend on each other for survival. The yucca moths and yucca plants have coevolved over millions of years. However, Tegeticula intermedia differs from most yucca moths in that it exhibits cheating behavior by laying eggs without pollinating the yucca plant.
Tegeticula carnerosanella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found from western Texas in the United States south to Mexico. The habitat consists of shrub desert.
Tegeticula baccatella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in Arizona and New Mexico and adjacent regions of California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. It is also found in western Texas. The habitat consists of shrub desert, rocky hillsides and open pine forests with outcrops.
Tegeticula rostratella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the Big Bend region of the United States, south to the Mapimí region in southern Coahuila in Mexico. The habitat consists of scrub desert.
Tegeticula elatella is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in western Texas, from the Big Bend region through southern New Mexico to south-eastern Arizona and the Verde Valley of central Arizona. The habitat consists of grassland and shrub desert.
Tegeticula corruptrix is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in North America in south-western California, Arizona, New Mexico, northern Coahuila, western and southern Texas, Colorado, Alberta, the western plains of Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. The habitat consists of grassland, shrub desert, rocky hillsides, open pine forests and shrubby grassland.
Parategeticula ecdysiastica is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains of the Cape region of Baja California, Mexico
Prodoxus y-inversus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the United States in south-western New Mexico, south-eastern Arizona and southern Nevada. The habitat consists of shrubby desert and open forests.
Prodoxus carnerosanellus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found in the Big Bend region of western Texas, United States. It is probably also present in Mexico.
Prodoxus atascosanellus is a moth of the family Prodoxidae. It is found from the Houston area of coastal Texas in the United States, south to the Mexican state of Michoacán, and west to the state of Durango.
