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Species Sympistis perscripta - Scribbled Sallow - Hodges#10154

Moth - Sympistis perscripta Sympistis perscripta? - Sympistis perscripta Moth 2.3.17 - Sympistis perscripta scribbled sallow - Sympistis perscripta 10154  - Sympistis perscripta Sympistis perscripta? - Sympistis perscripta Scribbled Sallow - Sympistis perscripta Sympistis perscripta
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
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 Oncocnemidinae
Genus Sympistis
Species perscripta (Scribbled Sallow - Hodges#10154)
Hodges Number
10154
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Sympistis perscripta (Guenée, 1852)
Lepipolys perscripta Guenée, 1852
Phylogenetic sequence # 931797
Numbers
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2010) listed 176 species of the genus Sympistis in America north of Mexico. (1)
Lafontaine & Schmidt (2013) reinstated one species. (2)
Size
wingspan about 33 mm, based on photos by Bruce Walsh
Identification
Adult: forewing dark gray with distinct black lines and black-outlined spots; AM line heaviest marking, zigzag; PM line double, sinuate; claviform spot oval, larger than round orbicular spot; reniform spot semicircular or slightly curved; wing veins more noticeable beyond PM line; hindwing dark gray, slightly paler toward base
Larva: body purple with two dorsal rows of bright yellow spots outlined in black
Range
Maine to Florida, west to California, north at least to Oregon
Season
adults fly from late September to May in California, and flight dates elsewhere in the west fit this pattern (3)
Food
larvae said to feed on Citrus species in California, and presumably other hosts farther north where Citrus doesn't occur (various sources). Powell & Opler state that larval hosts are Antirrhinum, Linaria, and Nuttallanthus and that Citrus is likely a spurious account (3). Reared on combination of Sairocarpus nuttallianus (Nuttall's Snapdragon) for early instars and Mohavea confertiflora (Desert Ghost Flower) for later instars (Southwestmoths.org)
Remarks
uncommon to rare in the northeast (a species of special concern in several northeastern states)
See Also
Sympistis sorapis only has three dark spots along the forewing costa marking the AM, PM and median lines, whereas perscripta has a fourth dark spot immediately across from the reniform spot. (4)
Sympistis behrensi - forewing is browner and has less distinct orbicular and claviform spots
some species of Oncocnemis are similar; O. lepipoloides at CBIF
Print References
Guenée, 1852; in Walker (1856) List spec. Lep. Ins. Brit. Mus. 10: 677
Lafontaine J.D. & B.C. Schmidt 2010. Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America north of Mexico. ZooKeys 40: 59-64. (1)
Lafontaine, J.D. & BC. Schmidt 2013. Additions and corrections to the check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America north of Mexico. ZooKeys 264: 230, 234. (2)
Powell, J.A. & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. plate 51, fig. 30; p. 286. (3)
Internet References
presence in California 12 specimen records plus dates and locations (U. of California at Berkeley)
Southwestmoths.org - life cycle info and photos