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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Cutworm or Dart Moths (Noctuinae) » Leucaniini » Leucania » Unarmed Wainscot - Hodges#10459 (Leucania inermis)

Species Leucania inermis - Unarmed Wainscot - Hodges#10459

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Remarks · See Also · Internet References · Works Cited

Leucania inermis – Unarmed Wainscot Moth - Leucania inermis

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 Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)

Subfamily Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)

Tribe Leucaniini

Genus Leucania

Species inermis (Unarmed Wainscot - Hodges#10459)

Hodges Number

10459

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

First described in 1936 by William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes as Cirphis inermis

Explanation of Names

inermis is Latin for "unarmed, harmless"

Size

WS ≈ 35mm (1)

Identification

Adult: FW grayish. Reniform present as a vague, pale spot with a distinct dark discal dot. Orbicular absent. PM and AM lines present, although irregular and not prominent. HW heavily suffused with gray-brown. Male prothoracic tibia without a large, massive tuft of hair. (1)

Range

Northeast and mid-Atlantic states from Nova Scotia in the north to South Carolina in the south. The species is known from as far west as western Pennsylvania and western North Carolina. (1)

Remarks

The similar species of Leucania inermis-ursula-pseudargyria species complex cannot be identified with certainty except by dissecting the male genitalia. (1)

See Also

Leucania pseudargyria - usually the easiest of the four species to recognize because of its larger size and the red tint to the forewings usually (but not always) present.

Leucania ursula - slightly smaller then similar inermis. Both species are always gray without the red tints that are present in the larger pseudargyia.

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group – images of live and pinned adults, and larva (2)

BOLD Systems - images of pinned DNA supported specimens (3)

Nearctica.com Systematics on the Fly species account (1)

Works Cited

1.	Noctuidae of North America (nearctica.com)

2.	North American Moth Photographers Group

3.	BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems

Contributed by tom murray on 27 August, 2009 - 7:54am
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz, ceiseman, Robert Lord Zimlich, v belov
Last updated 10 February, 2016 - 6:59pm

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