Phaneta comprises a large genus of Nearctic tortricids with several species that are difficult to delimit using morphological characters. We examined Phaneta tarandana (Möschler 1874) and P. montanana (Walsingham 1884), using morphology and DNA. Our results upheld the distinction between these two species, even though the wing coloration and male genital characters traditionally used to diagnose them were unreliable due to intraspecific variation. Nonetheless, a combination of forewing fringe scale detail, wing streaks, mitochondrial, and nuclear DNA delimited these moth species in a region of overlap in western Canada.