Other Common Names
formerly Four-spotted Itame (no longer classified in genus Itame)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Itame coortaria
placed in genus Macaria in 1999 by Scoble et al
described in 1887 by Hulst, who originally placed it in genus Thamnonoma
Identification
Adult: forewing light grayish-brown with faint speckling and four dark spots evenly-spaced along costa; second spot (from wing base) typically has small "satellite" spot near its tip; outermost spot sometimes pale or absent; hindwing pale grayish-brown (sometimes pale yellow) with faint speckling
Range
Quebec and Maine to Florida, west to Texas and Saskatchewan
Habitat
open woodlands containing larval foodplant
Season
adults fly from June to August
Food
larvae feed on leaves of apple, cherry, hawthorn, pear, willow
See Also
Other species of
Macaria have additional markings on the forewing (
compare images of numerous species by Jim Vargo at MPG)
Print References
Scoble, Malcolm J. (Ed) 1999.
Geometrid Moths of the World. A Catalogue. NHM Publishing, London. 1312 pp.
Internet References
live adult images (Lynn Scott, Ontario)
live and pinned adult images by various photographers (Moth Photographers Group)
larval foodplants; PDF doc plus flight season and life cycle (Macrolepidoptera of Mont Saint-Hilaire Region, McGill U., Quebec)
common name reference plus larval foodplants and flight season (Ohio State U.)
presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
distribution in Canada; list of provinces of occurrence (CBIF)
Contributed by
Robin McLeod on 28 July, 2005 - 11:02pm
Additional contributions by
anitagouldLast updated 18 November, 2008 - 7:46pm
