The first 2 images of a dense aggregation of moths were sent to me from Saipan by Russell Benford with a request for identification. The next 4 images where taken by Ross Miller who had visited Saipan the week before.
I posted a help for ID on invertebrates in Hawaii discussion list (INVERTS-L) and got the following response from Peter Oboyski, UC Berkeley: "It looks like a tortricid in the tribe Archipini. Probably a species of Adoxophyes." That is a great clue. In Clarke 1976 (Insects of Micronesia Vol. 9, No. 1: Microlepidoptera: Tortricoidea) there are only 2 tortricids listed for the southern Marianas: Adoxophyes melia and Polyopha oachranta.
Adoxophyes melia appears to be a very likely ID for this moth. It is described as a new species in Clarke 1976 with the type specimen from Fadian Point, Guam and distribution listed as "Southern Mariana Is.". It appears to be a commonly collected moth as many specimens from Guam and Saipan were examined by Clarke. Clarke states that this is "an extremely variable species for which I can find no structural difference between the color forms." He lists a wide larval host range for this moth: Dioscorea alata, cabbage, collards, "luluhut", Colubrina, Mallotus, Elaeocarpus, sweet potato, Barringtonia, Premna, Urera (?), Phyllanthus and Pithecellobium.
