Identification
Adult: head and thorax dark brown, hairy; forewing light reddish-brown with scalloped lines and brown-rimmed spots filled with ground color; reniform spot blackish in lower half; dark brown shading on basal side of ST line; terminal area lighter than subterminal area but darker than remainder of wing
hindwing yellowish-white with faint gray discal lunule, scalloped median line, and darker gray shading distally
Larva: fourth instar light green on top, paler green below; fifth instar dark green on top, light green below (sharp dividing line); three dark-margined pale lines down back, becoming less distinct with age
Range
Nova Scotia to Maryland, west to Nevada and Oregon, north to British Columbia
Season
adults fly from April to August
Food
larvae feed on buffaloberry (Shepherdia spp.), dandelion, gooseberry (Ribes spp.), Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), willow
See Also
Homorthodes furfurata has several black spots along ST line, and more uniformly-colored forewing and thorax
Caradrina morpheus has dark brown reniform and orbicular spots
several members of the tribe Noctuini have a superficially similar pattern on the forewing, but all lack contrast between dark brown thorax and light brown wing (see page of
thumbnail images)
Internet References
live adult and larva images by Janice Stiefel, Wisconsin (Moth Photographers Group)
pinned adult image by John Glaser, and food plants (Larry Line, Maryland)
pinned adult image and other info (California Dept. of Food and Agriculture)
US distribution map (Moths of North America; USGS)
food plants plus references and links to other sites (Markku Savela, FUNET)
