Other Common Names
often listed as "Anania funebris glomeralis" (the subspecies found in North America)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Anania funebris (Ström, 1768)
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)
Life Cycle
Larva light yellow-green, with yellowish head; living on the underside of the basal leaves of Solidago (Forbes 1923). Adults are diurnal.(
U of Alberta Entomology Collection)
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.
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)