| AMNH | American Museum of Natural History, New York |
| AMP | "American Moths of the Subfamily Phycitinae", J. Heinrich, Smithsonian, 1956 |
| ANSP | Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia |
| BMNH | British Museum of Natural History, London |
| bnds | Bands (in descriptions of unnamed species) |
| brkn | Broken (in descriptions of unnamed species) |
| CAS | California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco |
| CIS | California Insect Survey, housed at Essig Museum, Berkeley or CAS |
| cmpgrnd | Campground |
| CG | Campground-will replace "cmpgrnd" |
| CNC | Canadian National Collection, Ottawa |
| Cr | Creek |
| CSU | Colorado State University, Fort Collins |
| DAB | David A. Bauer |
| E | East (used to designate a direction from the location following) |
| Eco | Ecological |
| em | Emerged |
| F | Female |
| Fld | Field |
| FS | Felix Sperling |
| gmt | Government |
| In lit | In literature personally accessed by K. Richers |
| JAD | John A. DeBenedictis |
| JAP | Jerry A. Powell |
| KD | Ken Davenport |
| KMR | Kelly M. Richers |
| LACM | Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles |
| lit | Literature (information found in a published article) |
| LLC | Lawrence L, Crabtree |
| LCAMI | "Annotated List of California Microlepidoptera" J. Powell and Y.F. Hsu |
| LRL | "List of Reared Lepidoptera" Essig Museum, UC Berkeley |
| M | Male |
| man | Manuscript |
| mi | Miles |
| MONA | "Moths of America North of Mexico" various applicable fascicles |
| mv | Mercury Vapor light |
| N | North (used to designate a direction from the location following) |
| NMNM | National Museum of Natural History, same as USNM. This is the updated name. |
| NOSC | "Noctuids of Southern California" manuscript, T. Mustelin, R. Leuschner |
| NP | National Park |
| P & S R | Paul and Sandra Russell |
| PJ | Peter Jump |
| PMT | Paul M. Tuskes |
| R | River |
| Res | Reserve |
| rev | Revision |
| RHL | Ronald H. Leuschner |
| RMB | Richard M. Brown |
| RLL | Robert L. Langston |
| RSW | Ronald S. Wielgus |
| S | South (used to designate a direction from the location following) |
| SDNHM | San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego |
| SJSC | San Jose State College |
| SP | State Park |
| sp | Species |
| s.s. | Season Summary of the News of the Lepidopterists' Society |
| SSM | Steven S. Miller |
| Sta | Station |
| TED | Thomas E. Dimock |
| UCB | University of California, Berkeley, Essig Museum of Entomology |
| UCD | University of California, Davis, Bohart Museum |
| UConn | University of Connecticut |
| UCR | University of California, Riverside |
| USNM | United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institute |
| uv | Ultraviolet light |
| W | West (used to designate a direction from the location following) |
| Wh | White (in descriptions of unnamed species) |
| WP | William Patterson |
| YFH | Y.F. Hsu |
Berkeley Natural History Museums