Other Common Names
often listed as "Anania funebris glomeralis" (the subspecies found in North America)
Explanation of Names
FUNEBRIS: funereal - refers to the black or dark color
SABLE: (adj.) black or dark
Identification
Adult: forewing black with two large white spots and one tiny one; hindwing black with two large white spots; no tuft of orange hair-like scales on legs
Range
mostly northern North America: Newfoundland to Northwest Territories, south in the west to Colorado and California, south in the east to North Carolina
also occurs throughout Eurasia
Habitat
fields, open areas; adults often visit flowers during the day
Season
adults fly from May to July
Food
larvae feed on goldenrod (
Solidago spp.) and
Dyer's Greenweed (
Genista tinctoria)
Remarks
Almost always referred to by its scientific name, which is surprising because the moth occurs throughout Europe, where most moths have widely-used common names. The name White-spotted Sable on
this page is the only common name referenence I could find on the Internet.
See Also
Often mistaken for an
Eight-spotted Forester (
Alypia octomaculata), which is considerably larger [no overlap in wingspan], has a total of only 8 spots on the wings, and has a prominent tuft of orange hair-like scales on its legs - the "leg warmers" that Hannah refers to in
her image of an Eight-spotted Forester.
Internet References
live adult image (Butterflies & Moths of Europe and North Africa)
pinned adult image (David Smith, Furman U., South Carolina)
live adult image plus description, foodplants, flight season (Lynn Scott, Ontario)
live adult images plus synonyms, foodplants, distribution map (Markku Savela, Finnish University & Research Network)
presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)
common name reference (Lancashire Government, UK)
Contributed by
Robin McLeod on 4 February, 2005 - 9:44pm
Last updated 2 June, 2006 - 12:55am
