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Species Cerastis tenebrifera - Reddish Speckled Dart - Hodges#10994

Unknown Moth - Cerastis tenebrifera 10994 Reddish Speckled Dart  - Cerastis tenebrifera - male Diarsia?  Most likely Cerastis tenebrifera. - Cerastis tenebrifera - male Cerastis tenebrifera - female 10994 Reddish Speckled Dart - Cerastis tenebrifera - male Cerastis tenebrifera? - Cerastis tenebrifera Reddish Speckled Dart - Hodges#10994 - Cerastis tenebrifera Reddish Speckled Dart - Cerastis tenebrifera - male
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Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)
Tribe Noctuini
Subtribe Noctuina
Genus Cerastis
Species tenebrifera (Reddish Speckled Dart - Hodges#10994)
Hodges Number
10994
Numbers
one of 7 species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps
Size
wingspan 30-40 mm (1)
Identification
Adult: forewing reddish-brown, faintly mottled with gray; lines gray, inconspicuous except for partial whitish subterminal line; orbicular and reniform spots whitish with gray centers; hindwing grayish-brown with faint median line (1)
Range
Newfoundland to South Carolina, west to Texas, north to Nebraska and southern Ontario (1)
Habitat
moist woods and maple groves; adults are nocturnal and come to light [Handfield, 1999]
Season
adults fly from March to early June
Food
larvae feed on Common Dandelion, American Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Meadow Willow (Salix petiolaris), Chokecherry, Paper Birch, and Velvetleaf Huckleberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides) [Handfield, 1999]; also Wood Anemone (Amenone quinquefolia)
Life Cycle
one generation per year
larva; larva; larva head; larva; pupa; adult
See Also
Cerastis fishii forewing has contrasting black-and-white markings in its reniform and orbicular spots
Print References
Handfield, Louis. 1999. Les Guides des Papillons du Quebec. Broquet. 662 pp. [species account, p. 453; photo of male, p. 117]
Works Cited
1.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.