Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Genus Furcula

Furcula cinerea  - Furcula cinerea Large Furcula borealis, Caterpillar to moth - Furcula borealis Furcula - Furcula cinerea Gray Furcula - Furcula cinerea  Furcula modesta - Furcula modesta Furcula scolopendrina Furcula sp. - Furcula
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 Notodontidae (Prominent Moths)
Subfamily Cerurinae
Genus Furcula
Explanation of Names
FURCULA: from the Latin "furca" (a fork); refers to the long forked anal prolegs of the larva
Numbers
6 species in North America (nearctica.com)
5 species in Canada (CBIF)
Size
wingspan 30-45 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing white to off-white to gray (with dark gray patches in median area and along costa near apex in 4 species); AM and terminal lines composed of black dots; some yellowish or orange markings usually present in 4 species; hindwing white or pale grayish with terminal line of black dots and usually dark discal spot

Larva: body greenish-yellow to green with bluish-green or brown saddle in middle of back; anal prolegs modified into pair of long narrow tail-like projections, giving the appearance of a forked tail
Range
all of United States and southern Canada, plus southern Yukon and Northwest Territories - varies according to species
F. borealis: eastern 2/3 of US, and eastern half of Canada (see distribution map)
F. cinerea: all of US and southern Canada, plus Northwest Territories (see map)
F. modesta: across northern US and southern Canada, south in the west to California and Arizona (see map)
F. nivea: western US - mostly the southwest but one record from North Dakota (see map)
F. occidentalis: southern Yukon across southern Canada and northern US (see map)
F. scolopendrina: patchily distributed in northeastern states and 4 eastern provinces; widely distributed in western states and 3 western provinces; missing from middle of continent (see map)
Habitat
deciduous and mixed woods and shrublands
Season
adults fly from April to October in the south; May to August in the north
Food
larvae feed on leaves of birch, cherry, poplar, willow
Life Cycle
two generations per year in the south; one in the north
Internet References
pinned adult images of the 5 species occurring in Canada (CBIF)
pinned adult image of the 6th species, F. nivea (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
distribution list of 5 species in eastern Canada (CBIF)
distribution list of 4 species in western Canada (CBIF)