Identification
Adult: forewing brownish gray, strikingly patterned in white and black with shading in reddish brown, and a very sleek, smooth appearance; postmedial (PM) line a looping zigzag of fine black parallel lines, clearest at the midpoint of the wing; antemedial (AM) line forms a relatively smooth curve as it goes from the costa to the inner margin of the wing - a distinguishing feature [adapted from description by Lynn Scott]
Larva: orange to rusty brown, with fine black dorsal midline; head with reticulate patterning; second thoracic segment raised; eighth abdominal segment also humped; abdomen with faint subdorsal chevrons; venter and lateral areas above prolegs pale [from description at Caterpillars of Eastern Forests]
Range
southern Canada and northern US, south in the west to Arizona
Season
adults fly from May to August
larvae from July to October
Food
larvae feed on the leaves of birch and Rubus spp. (Black Raspberry, Purple-flowering Raspberry)
See Also
Glorious Habrosyne (H. gloriosa) is similar but has a 90 degree jog or notch in the AM line, part-way along its length (whereas in H. scripta, the AM line is a smooth curve)
Internet References
live adult images plus description and other info (Lynn Scott, Ontario)
pinned adult image plus US distribution map [some data missing] (Paul Opler, Moths of North America, USGS)
pinned adult image plus description and other info (Gerald Fauske, Moths of North Dakota)
pinned adult image plus description and other info (Jeff Miller, Macromoths of Northwest Forests, USGS)
pinned adult image (A.W. Thomas, Canadian Forest Service)
pinned adult image (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Arizona)
live larva image plus description and other info (David Wagner and Valerie Giles, Caterpillars of Eastern Forests, USGS)
common name reference and other info (Ohio State U.)
